AP gets Obama's comment about Afghanistan and Iraq flat wrong

In an October 7 article, the Associated Press misrepresented Sen. Barack Obama's answer during the October 7 presidential debate, resulting in the false suggestion by the AP that Obama said he doesn't think that the United States can face "the challenge" in Afghanistan "after spending years and hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq." The AP quoted Sen. John McCain saying that Obama "does not understand our national security challenges," then wrote that "Obama countered with a trace of sarcasm that he didn't understand some things -- like how the United States could face the challenge in [sic] does in Afghanistan after spending years and hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq." But Obama did not say that. Rather, he said: "There are some things I don't understand. I don't understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9-11, while Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda are setting up base camps and safe havens to train terrorists to attack us."

From the October 7 AP article:

The debate also veered into foreign policy, and the disputes were as intense as on the economy and domestic matters.

McCain said his rival "was wrong about Iraq and the surge. He was wrong about Russia when they committed aggression against Georgia. And in his short career he does not understand our national security challenges. We don't have time for on the job training."

Obama countered with a trace of sarcasm that he didn't understand some things - like how the United States could face the challenge in does in Afghanistan after spending years and hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq.

From the CNN transcript of the October 7 presidential debate:

McCAIN: Sen. Obama was wrong about Iraq and the surge. He was wrong about Russia when they committed aggression against Georgia. And in his short career, he does not understand our national security challenges.

We don't have time for on-the-job training, my friends.

TOM BROKAW (moderator): Sen. Obama, the economic constraints on the U.S. military action around the world.

OBAMA: Well, you know, Sen. McCain, in the last debate and today, again, suggested that I don't understand. It's true. There are some things I don't understand.

I don't understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9-11, while Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda are setting up base camps and safe havens to train terrorists to attack us.

That was Sen. McCain's judgment and it was the wrong judgment.

When Sen. McCain was cheerleading the president to go into Iraq, he suggested it was going to be quick and easy, we'd be greeted as liberators.

That was the wrong judgment, and it's been costly to us.

So one of the difficulties with Iraq is that it has put an enormous strain, first of all, on our troops, obviously, and they have performed heroically and honorably and we owe them an extraordinary debt of gratitude.

But it's also put an enormous strain on our budget. We've spent, so far, close to $700 billion and if we continue on the path that we're on, as Sen. McCain is suggesting, it's going to go well over $1 trillion.

We're spending $10 billion a month in Iraq at a time when the Iraqis have a $79 billion surplus, $79 billion.

And we need that $10 billion a month here in the United States to put people back to work, to do all these wonderful things that Sen. McCain suggested we should be doing, but has not yet explained how he would pay for.

Now, Sen. McCain and I do agree, this is the greatest nation on earth. We are a force of good in the world. But there has never been a nation in the history of the world that saw its economy decline and maintained its military superiority.

And the strains that have been placed on our alliances around the world and the respect that's been diminished over the last eight years has constrained us being able to act on something like the genocide in Darfur, because we don't have the resources or the allies to do everything that we should be doing.

That's going to change when I'm president, but we can't change it unless we fundamentally change Sen. McCain's and George Bush's foreign policy. It has not worked for America.