Obama's comments on Afghanistan draw sharp rebuke from Romney campaign

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama came under fire Tuesday for saying that U.S. troops in Afghanistan are "just air-raiding villages and killing civilians." The junior senator from Illinois made the comment Monday at a campaign stop in Nashua, New Hampshire.

"We've got to get the job done there," he said of Afghanistan. "And that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there."

The comment drew a rebuke Tuesday from the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

"That is a very troubling remark on so many levels," said Romney spokesman Kevin Madden. "Most importantly, it's emblematic of Senator Obama's lack of experience for the job of commander-in-chief. But it's also an entirely inaccurate condemnation of the efforts of the men and women of the United States military who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan."

A spokesman for Obama, who will speak at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Missouri next week, did not immediately respond to Madden's criticism.

The flap comes three weeks after Obama promised that if elected president, he would meet without pre-conditions with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea. That pledge was called "irresponsible and frankly naive" by rival Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Eight days later, eager to rebut Clinton's charge, Obama said that as president, he might send U.S. troops into Pakistan to fight terrorists not targeted by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

"If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will," he vowed.

Critics called this overly hawkish, prompting Obama to modulate again the next day by ruling out the use of nuclear weapons to fight terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"I think it would be a profound mistake for us to use nuclear weapons in any circumstance," he told the AP before pausing.

"Involving civilians," he added. "Let me scratch that. There's been no discussion of nuclear weapons. That's not on the table."

The gaffe was criticized by Clinton, who said: "I don't believe that any president should make any blanket statements with respect to the use or non-use of nuclear weapons."

Clinton has been criticized for a statement about Iran last year in which she said "I would certainly take nuclear weapons off the table."

On Tuesday, Clinton's campaign declined to comment on Obama's remark about U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

bsammon@dcexaminer.com

Download the video of Obama's controversial comments on Afghanistan while on the campaign trail in Nashua, New Hampshire.