Speaking of prisoners, it was really just a matter of time before Arizona Senator John McCain's war record became an issue in the 2008 U.S. presidential elections. In the last elections, when Democratic nominee John Kerry touted his war experiences in Vietnam, his political opponents went about to dismantle his alleged war heroics. Lengthy infomercials were aired on national television at great cost.

Until now McCain's five year stint as a prisoner of war spent in a North Vietnamese detention facility after his Navy combat plane was shot down seemed immune to criticism. But as the race for the White House enters the final stretch, this time around it's the Democrats who are putting into question the presumptive Republican nominee's "experience" as a war-time commander.

The question is raised by Wesley Clark, a highly decorated retired U.S. Army general, a former NATO supreme commander who led allied troops in the Balkans, and who had at one time also toyed with the idea of running for president.

Clark raised the question during a Meet the Press interview on June 29 of McCain's wartime experience in Vietnam. Clark said of McCain that the former U.S. Navy pilot had not "held executive responsibility" and had not commanded troops in wartime.

On his part, Senator McCain has in the past criticized the Democratic presumptive candidate senator Barack Obama for his lack of military experience. The Arizona senator has also criticized Obama for not visiting Iraq more than the two trips he made to the country since U.S. troops have occupied it; whereas McCain has made several trips to Iraq.

With the pressure mounting on both candidates to demonstrate which one is best suited to assume the functions of commander in chief, the campaign trail in the last few months of this presidential race will certainly take both candidates to the war front in Iraq.

While there is no doubt that it would serve the candidates to see firsthand what is going on in Iraq, one should question the logic behind what is really a publicity stunt. One that nevertheless places the presidential candidate in potential jeopardy for the sake of a photo opportunity and a few votes.

Truth be told, how much of what is really going on in Iraq can a candidate grasp during the course of the well choreographed visit that is unlikely to surpass a few hours? But as we mentioned earlier, truth is among the first casualties of any war.