McCain: Obama is 'wrong'

WASHINGTON, July 21 (UPI) -- U.S. Republican presidential hopeful John McCain said his likely Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, is "wrong" about Iraq.

In appearances on the CBS "Early Show" and NBC's "Today," McCain tried to blunt the impact of this week's trip by Obama to Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Well, I hope that the people will have a better focus on the fact that we have succeeded in our strategy in Iraq. We are winning the war. And Senator Obama was wrong. He railed against it. He voted against the surge and he said it would fail. He was wrong there. And there's very little doubt in my mind that he will see for himself that he had a gross misjudgment and that he'll correct that," McCain said on the "Early Show."

McCain said it is premature on Obama's part to say U.S. troops should be out of Iraq in 16 months. He said any withdrawal should be based on conditions.

Responding to Obama's suggestion troops be withdrawal from Iraq and redeployed to Afghanistan, McCain on "Today" said we "can't choose to lose a war in Iraq, in my view, in order to win in Afghanistan."

"Of course we have problems in Afghanistan. And as we succeed in Iraq, there will be troops available to go to Afghanistan. But it's more than just troops. Senator Obama doesn't understand that it is a strategy. The same strategy that succeeded in Iraq, we will employ in Afghanistan, the one that he rejected and still does not accept the success of," McCain said.