Obama Has Spent Only Two Days in Iraq

While Obama is likely to have only spent two days in Iraq, he has found time to make a two-week trip to Africa and conduct a fact-finding mission in Russia. News reports and press release from Obama’s Senate office show Obama took a 15-day trip to Africa in August 2006 to raise AIDS awareness and promote his book, “Audacity of Hope.” He traveled to Russia in 2005 with a delegation led by fellow Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Sen. Richard Lugar (R.-Ind.), to visit nuclear sites. On that trip, he also visited Ukraine, Azerbaijan and England.

Obama’s top rival for the Democratic nomination for President, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.) has visited Iraq three times. She completed her last CODEL in January 2007, shortly before she announced her intention to run for the Democratic nomination for President. Clinton has made recent headlines by attacking Obama for his inexperience in foreign affairs by pointing out he has not held oversight hearings on the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs, which he chairs, because of his presidential campaign schedule

Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.) the presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican Party, often discusses his trips to Iraq and military experience while campaigning. As of August 2007 McCain had taken six trips to Iraq.