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Washington, D.C. — Sen. John McCain slammed Sen. Barack Obama Monday after the IL Senator again alleged that McCain is willing to wage a 100-year war in Iraq.

“In all due respect he does not understand…the fundamental elements of national security and warfare,” McCain told reporters aboard his plane during a flight to the Washington area, where he is set to deliver a speech at his high school in Alexandria, VA on Tuesday.

Obama has been hammering McCain for comments he made at a January town hall meeting where the AZ Senator said he would be comfortable with a century-long U.S. troop presence in Iraq. While McCain was alluding a peace-time military force, Democrats have used the comments to make the case that McCain is willing to fight a 100 year war in Iraq.

While the non-partisan factcheck.org gives more merit to McCain’s argument, the presumptive GOP nominee has still had to repeatedly explain what he meant while on the trail. Today he provided the context as a side entree to a main course of Obama roast.

“It displays a fundamental misunderstanding of history and how we’ve maintained national security, and what we need to do in the future to maintain our security in the face of the transcendent challenge of radical Islamic extremism. And I understand that because he has no experience or background in any of it,” McCain said. “(He) either hasn’t read or (doesn’t) understand…the history of this country in warfare, and the way that we secure alliances and secure the peace–and that’s through military government to government agreements that call for United States presence and mutual defense. Not only in that country itself, but also in the region. Our troops in Japan maintain a military presence in Asia. Our troops in Japan and South Korea maintain stability in Asia. The same thing was true after World War II about our troops in Germany.”

Asked if he is concerned whether Obama’s 100 years argument will win out, McCain said he trusts voters and took a second shot at the Democrat. “I think the American people are smart enough to figure that out….and they’ll understand over time if they don’t know that he has no experience or background on these issues,” McCain said.

At a New Hampshire town hall meeting back in January, before John McCain was the presumptive Republican nominee or even the Republican frontrunner, he made comments that are still making waves on the campaign trail. A Granite State voter started to say that President Bush said we could be in Iraq for 50 years when McCain interrupted. Democrats seemingly limitless ammunition in their quest to win over anti-war voter

“Maybe 100,” he said. “We’ve been in South Korea, we’ve been in Japan for 60 years. We’ve been in South Korea for 50 years or so. That’d be fine with me as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed. Then it’s fine with me. I hope it would be fine with you if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al Qaeda is training, recruiting, equipping, and motivating people every single day,” he continued.

This statement has been used ever since by Democrats in their quest to win over the anti-war vote that makes up much of the Democratic Party’s base.

Senator Obama consistently incorporates McCain’s “hundred year war” into his stump. Today in Lancaster, PA, he mentioned it twice. “You know, John McCain wants to continue a war in Iraq perhaps as long as 100 years,” he told voters at his town hall meeting. He reinforces this by telling voters that he was against the war in 2002 and will end the war in 2009.

For the past couple of days, the McCain camp has sent out releases claiming Obama is “being dishonest when he claims that John McCain has plans for 100 years of warfare in Iraq, it’s not true, and has been repeatedly reported as false. It’s easy to talk about taking on Washington, but when Senator Barack Obama consistently uses Washington’s oldest political tricks and distortions, i smacks of some hypocrisy,” a spokesman said.

Today at a press avail, Senator Obama was asked if he is being unfair, as suggested by the McCain campaign. “I don’t think it’s unfair at all. John McCain, I mean we can run the youtube spot, has said that we will stay there as long as it takes and if it takes another 100 years he’s up for that commitment, and that implies that there is some criteria by which we would understand how long it takes. John McCain has not been clear about what exactly would lead him to decide its time to pullout,” he said in Lititz, PA.

The reporter followed up that even Barack Obama has said he would keep a strike force in Iraq, and troops to guard the embassy and its diplomats. “That’s very different from saying that we’re gonna have a permanent occupation in Iraq,” Obama retorted. “And it’s certainly different from saying that we would have a high level of combat troops inside Iraq for a decade or two decades or as John McCain said, perhaps 100 years. I mean I’m just quoting back what he said, unless you tell me that that’s a misquote.”

When the reporter suggested perhaps McCain had meant he would leave troops in Iraq in the spirit of Germany and Japan, Obama replied, “We’ve been in South Korea for for 50 years and he’s used that as an example as George Bush has, and that is decades. We’re spending 10 billion dollars a month in Iraq right now. Which means that John McCain is willing to sign up for the prospect of spending as much as $150 billion or more each year for who knows how long. That is something that the US cant afford and I think that is going to be a debate we are going to have in the general election should I be the nominee.”

Don’t expect Obama to drop this line from his stump anytime soon.