Obama again backs strikes inside Pakistan

Obama said problems have mounted in Afghanistan because the US military was sent into Iraq “when we hadn’t finished the job of hunting down (Osama) bin Laden and crushing Al-Qaeda. So what happened was we got distracted ... and ultimately bin Laden escaped, set up base camps (across the border) in the mountains of Pakistan” and was attacking US troops.

He added, “If we have Osama in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, then I think that we have to act, and we will take them out”.

McCain said Obama’s rhetoric was misplaced. “Teddy Roosevelt used to say ... talk softly but carry a big stick... if you’re trying to gain the support of another country, then you want to do anything you can that they would act in a cooperative fashion. When you announce that you’re going to launch an attack into another country, it’s pretty obvious that you have the effect that it had in Pakistan. It turns public opinion against us.”

Reacting to McCain’s criticism of his Pakistan position, Obama said he never proposed invading the South Asian country. “I want to be very clear about what I said. Nobody called for the invasion of Pakistan. Sen McCain continues to repeat this. What I said was the same thing that the audience here today heard me say, which is, if Pakistan is unable or unwilling to hunt down bin Laden and take him out, then we should. Now, that I think has to be our policy, because they are threatening to kill more Americans”.