NY Post editorial falsely claims Obama "once insisted that U.S. forces invade Pakistan" and "opposes sanctions" against Iran

In a September 8 editorial endorsing Sen. John McCain for president, the New York Post falsely claimed that Sen. Barack Obama "once insisted that US forces invade Pakistan" and that he "opposes sanctions" against Iran (emphasis in the original). In fact, Obama has not said he would "invade Pakistan." Also, he has stated that he favors sanctions on Iran and introduced legislation to enable state and local governments to divest from Iran.

Obama has never "insisted that US forces invade Pakistan" or said he would do so as president; rather, in an August 2007 speech, he said: "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets [in Pakistan] and President [Pervez] Musharraf won't act, we will." Obama made any actions conditional, not definite, and he subsequently noted that he "never called for an invasion of Pakistan." In a July 15 foreign policy speech, Obama echoed his earlier statements, saying: "We need a stronger and sustained partnership between Afghanistan, Pakistan and NATO to secure the border, to take out terrorist camps, and to crack down on cross-border insurgents. We need more troops, more helicopters, more satellites, more Predator drones in the Afghan border region. And we must make it clear that if Pakistan cannot or will not act, we will take out high-level terrorist targets like [Osama] bin Laden if we have them in our sights."

During a July 9 interview on NBC's Today, Obama said: "It's so important for us to have a coherent policy with respect to Iran. It has to combine much tougher threats of economic sanctions with direct diplomacy, opening up channels of communication, so that we avoid provocation, but we give strong incentives for the Iranians to change their behavior." Additionally, Obama introduced the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act on May 17, 2007, which would "authorize State and local governments to direct divestiture from, and prevent investment in, companies with investments of $20,000,000 or more in Iran's energy sector." Obama referred to the legislation in an August 30, 2007, New York Daily News op-ed, in which he wrote: "For diplomacy to work, we need to dial up our political and economic pressure -- not just our tough talk."

Media Matters for America has documented other instances in which the media falsely claimed Obama said he would "invade" Pakistan and that he "opposes sanctions" against Iran.

Moreover, the New York Post falsely asserted in the editorial that Obama proposes "no nukes, no drilling and no comprehension of the consequences of such policies." In fact, Obama has not proposed "no nukes" or "no drilling." In his energy plan, Obama states: "Nuclear power represents more than 70 percent of our noncarbon generated electricity. It is unlikely that we can meet our aggressive climate goals if we eliminate nuclear power as an option." And while the plan states that "with 3 percent of the world's oil reserves, the U.S. cannot drill our way to energy security," it also calls domestic oil and natural gas production "critical to prevent global energy prices from climbing even higher" and proposes "set[ting] up a process for early identification of any infrastructure obstacles/shortages or possible federal permitting process delays to drilling" in Montana, North Dakota, Texas, Arkansas, and Alaska.

From the New York Post editorial:

National security: The differences between McCain and Obama are especially stark.

McCain says 9/11 represented a two-decade "failure ... to respond to ... a [growing] global terror network." He understood that Iraq is a critical front in the war on terror -- and he urged perseverance even in the dark days that preceded the success of "the surge."

Obama backed policies that would have abandoned Iraq to its fate, he bitterly opposed the surge, and once insisted that US forces invade Pakistan in search of Osama bin Laden -- seemingly without regard for the potential consequences of attacking a nuclear-armed nation, ally or not.

Regarding a nuclear Iran, McCain has pushed for the strongest possible international sanctions and diplomatic pressure. Obama opposes sanctions.

[...]

Energy: On the economic issue most vexing Americans today -- energy prices -- McCain is aggressive

He is a strong convert to offshore drilling: "We have trillions of dollars' worth of oil and gas reserves in the US at a time we are exporting hundreds of billions of dollars a year overseas to buy energy."

He also strongly backs nuclear power -- a carbon-free form of energy that America can produce relatively cheaply.

Obama, meanwhile, hews to the Democratic Party line on energy: no nukes, no drilling and no comprehension of the consequences of such policies.