"I have some news. Al Qaeda is in Iraq. It's called 'Al Qaeda in Iraq,' " McCain told a crowd in Tyler, Texas, drawing laughter at Obama's expense. He said Obama's statement was "pretty remarkable."
Obama quickly answered back while campaigning in Ohio. "I do know that Al Qaeda is in Iraq and that's why I have said we should continue to strike Al Qaeda targets," he told a rally at Ohio State University in Columbus.
"But I have some news for John McCain," Obama added. "There was no such thing as Al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq. . . . They took their eye off the people who were responsible for 9/11 and that would be Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, that is stronger now than at any time since 2001."
Obama said he intended to withdraw US forces from Iraq "so we actually start going after Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and in the hills of Pakistan, like we should have been doing in the first place."
While he praised McCain as a war hero and saluted his service to the country, Obama said the Arizona Republican was "tied to the politics of the past. We are about policies of the future."
Saying that McCain likes to tell audiences that he'd follow Osama bin Laden to the "gates of hell" to catch him, Obama taunted: "All he has done is to follow George Bush into a misguided war in Iraq."
McCain said he had not watched Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate but was told of Obama's response when asked whether, as president, he would reserve the right to send US troops back into Iraq to quell an insurrection or civil war.
Obama did not say whether he would send troops but responded: "As commander in chief, I will always reserve the right to make sure that we are looking out for American interests. And if Al Qaeda is forming a base in Iraq, then we will have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad."
Yesterday, Obama expanded slightly that he "would always reserve the right to go in and strike Al Qaeda if they were in Iraq" without detailing what kind of strike that might be.
McCain said later in San Antonio: "So I guess that means that he would surrender and then go back."
