Obama aides furious about McCain's "loose lips" on Iraq trip...

As I expected, candidate John McCain's peculiarly loose lips did raise hackles. The NY Daily News reported yesterday:

For weeks now, Barack Obama has closely guarded the details of his planned fact-finding trips to Afghanistan and Iraq, citing security concerns.

But Friday, the Democratic presidential hopeful's Republican rival, John McCain, may have let the secret out of the bag - infuriating some Obama supporters and putting Camp McCain on the defensive.

The blogosphere may not have erupted with the fury I expected (a buncha sleepyheads lost in summer daydreams, I guess) but Obama HQ, in the throes of following through on the long planned trip was scornful:

While refusing to confirm or deny anything about Obama's schedule, his aides were furious with McCain's comment. They noted every major news outlet has resisted speculating on the timing or location of Obama's war-zone maneuvers out of safety concerns.

The Daily News quoted former presidential nominee and decorated Vietnam vet, Senator John Kerry about McCain's breach of accepted protocol:

"I've been around enough of these trips to know that I'm leery of saying anything for security reasons. End of story," Kerry told the Daily News.

The Daily News described the preparations:

An advance team of Secret Service agents assigned to Obama was dispatched to Afghanistan and Iraq days ago to coordinate with U.S. forces on the ground in those countries, a source confirmed to The News.

At the same time, separate Secret Service teams were sent to the Mideast and Europe to prep their counterparts ahead of Obama's campaign-funded trip there next week. "This [security] operation very much rises to the level of a presidential trip," an inside source said.

"We're not going to put anyone's life at risk by disclosing specific times and places in advance," the aide said.