Obama criticized for his Pakistan comment

August 8, 2007

Chicago, IL - Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama was under fire from his Democratic rivals for saying last week that he would consider sending U.S. forces into Pakistan.

Obama said he'd consider sending forces, even without its permission, to capture top al Qaeda operatives.

"You can think big, but remember, you shouldn't always say everything you think if you're running for president, because it has consequences around the world," said Sen. Hillary Clinton during a Democratic presidential forum in Chicago sponsored by the AFL-CIO -- drawing boos from the audience in Obama's hometown. "We don't need that right now."

Sen. Chris Dodd joined the criticism, saying Obama's stance could undermine Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, the country's military ruler, who has been a U.S. ally in the fight against al Qaeda. "While General Musharraf is no Thomas Jefferson, he may be the only thing that stands between us and having an Islamic fundamentalist state in that country," Dodd said. "So while I would like to see him change, the reality is, if we lose him, then what we face is an alternative that could be a lot worse for our country."

Given a chance to respond, Obama said, "I find it amusing that those who helped to authorize and engineer the biggest foreign policy disaster in our generation are now criticizing me for making sure that we are on the right battlefield and not the wrong battlefield in the war against terrorism."

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