Barack Obama Plans Iraq Summer Trip

Barack Obama will consider a trip to Iraq this summer.

Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama said he's considering a visit to Iraq this summer, his first since becoming a presidential candidate.

"I just don't want to be involved in a political stunt," Obama said.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said he was pleased to hear that Obama was considering making the trip. McCain said Obama "was driven to his position by ideology and not by the facts on the ground. And he does not have the knowledge or the experience to make the judgments. Presidents have to listen and learn. Presidents have to make judgments no matter how popular or unpopular they may be."

"I don't think John McCain or the Bush administration have a very strong argument to make about their foreign policy, so they're going to try to come up with diversions or distractions and not argue the substance," Obama said.

McCain has been criticizing Obama for his absence from Iraq, and the Republican Party joined the fray Wednesday by launching an online clock to count the days since last visited the war zone. By the GOP's count, it's been 871 days.

Obama says the trip to Iraq would be to speak with troops and commanders and not to score political points.

Obama's campaign has been considering an overseas trip since last year to beef up his foreign policy credentials. Even so, the extended fight for the Democratic nomination with Hillary Rodham Clinton has delayed those plans.