SF Gate : McCain says Obama is simplistic to warn of bombing Pakistan

McCain says Obama is simplistic to warn of bombing Pakistan

By LAURA KURTZMAN | Associated Press Writer | August 1, 2007

Palo Alto, Calif. (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain said Sen. Barack Obama's threat to use military force to get rid of terrorists in Pakistan shows he does not understand the complexities of the region.

McCain said the situation in Pakistan is "very delicate," since the country's leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is an American ally with a tenuous hold on power. The Arizona senator said a direct American attack on the country could cause a backlash that might topple Musharraf.

"I think it's kind of a simplistic view of a very complex situation," McCain said at a press conference following an appearance at Stanford University. He advocated using covert action "before we declare that we're going to bomb the daylights out of them."

In a speech Wednesday in Washington, Obama said, "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf will not act, we will."

The Illinois Democrat said al-Qaida operatives involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were hiding in the mountainous region of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan.

"They are plotting to strike again," he said. "It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al-Qaida leadership meeting in 2005."

Obama's tough stance came after last week's dispute with top Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in which she accused him of being "irresponsible and naive" for saying he would meet with heads of states such as Cuba, North Korea, Syria and Iran without conditions.

McCain refused to say whether he thought the Bush administration was doing enough to fight al-Qaida in Pakistan. Instead, he said Musharraf was on "shaky ground" and warned of "very serious consequences if he were overthrown and replaced by a radical Islamic government."