During the May 29 edition of Fox News' Happening Now, host Jon Scott asked whether Sen. Barack Obama should “go to Iraq” and said to Republican strategist Chip Saltsman, “Seems, though, like [Obama] is only talking about going [to Iraq] now, Chip, because [Sen. John] McCain held his feet to the fire.” Saltsman replied, “Absolutely. And I think this highlights one of the biggest problems Obama's got -- his youth and inexperience.” In fact, Obama discussed visiting Iraq as a presidential candidate in 2007. The New York Times reported on November 2, 2007:

Mr. Obama, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visited Iraq in January 2006. Asked if that was his last visit, given how much events on the ground have changed since then, he jumped in before the question was finished, saying, ''Given how important this is, why haven't I gone back?''

''I'll be honest with you,'' he said. ''Part of it is that my schedule is such that the trips would be one or two days and would be centered around the Green Zone.''

He added: ''I suspect we will be going back. It probably won't be before Iowa, realistically speaking.'' The Iowa caucuses are scheduled for Jan. 3.

Also during the segment, Scott and Saltsman falsely suggested that Cuba's former president, Fidel Castro, has “endorsed” Obama. Indeed, Scott referred to a May 26 Castro op-ed in the Cuban newspaper Granma about Obama's May 23 speech before the Cuban American National Foundation, and stated: "[I]n the 'who needs friends like these' category, there are some of these -- you don't really call them endorsements -- but there are some interesting statements coming out from people like Fidel Castro." But while Scott initially said of Castro's remarks, “you don't really call them endorsements,” he went on to ask Saltsman, “Is it fair game to bring up some of these endorsements?” Saltsman later claimed, “I mean, he's got Fidel Castro's endorsement; I'm not sure that's going to help him too much in Florida. Maybe he'll get the president of Iraq and North Korea and commit the trifecta for going into this.”

But Castro did not “endorse[]” Obama, as Saltsman asserted. While in his column, headlined “The empire's hypocritical politics,” Castro wrote that Obama is “doubtless, from the social and human points of view, the most progressive candidate to the U.S. presidency,” he spent the majority of his column criticizing Obama's speech, summarizing it as follows: “Presidential candidate Obama's speech may be formulated as follows: hunger for the nation, remittances as charitable hand-outs and visits to Cuba as propaganda for consumerism and the unsustainable way of life behind it.”

From the May 29 edition of Fox News' Happening Now:

SCOTT: Joining us now: Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis, he was communications director for John Edwards, and Republican strategist Chip Saltsman, he was Mike Huckabee's campaign manager. Welcome to both of you.

KOFINIS: Thank you.

SALTSMAN: Jon, good to be with you.

SCOTT: Chris, should Barack Obama -- who does, after all, want to be president -- should he go to Iraq?

KOFINIS: Yeah, I think he should go to Iraq. My guess is what you're going to end up seeing is, you know, when the nomination process is done -- hopefully, sometime in early June -- and he's declared the presumptive nominee, if I would hazard a guess, I think you're going to see what John McCain did and what other presumptive nominees have done in the past. He'll make, I think, a tour around foreign nations and meet with foreign leaders, and I think he'll probably stop in Iraq and probably other places.

SCOTT: Seems, though, like he is only talking about going now, Chip, because McCain held his feet to the fire.

SALTSMAN: Absolutely. And I think this highlights one of the biggest problems Obama's got -- his youth and inexperience. I mean, he hasn't been to Iraq in almost three years. Senator McCain points that out. And then the political pressure, Obama says, “Well, yeah, then I might want to go on this trip.” And I think what that shows is Obama can be held accountable and political pressure can change his mind on a couple things. But the facts are this: He hasn't been there in almost three years, he should be there if he's going to be the Democrat [sic] nominee for president and want to be commander in chief, he should be in Iraq and look for things on the ground, and he should do his own fact-finding. And he's not doing that.

SCOTT: In the meantime, in the “who needs friends like these” category, there are some of these -- you don't really call them endorsements -- but there are some interesting statements coming out from people like Fidel Castro. When he says that Barack Obama is the most progressive candidate in the race, Chris, you've got to wonder, you know, with friends like those, who needs enemies, huh?

KOFINIS: Well, I mean, let's put something in the right context, and -- especially in terms of what Chip just said. I mean, this ends up being kind of the playbook or the page they pull out of the Republican playbook every four years: attack the Democrat on national security, attack Democrat on patriotism.

You know, the notion that somehow Barack Obama -- when he's the Democratic nominee, when he's the president of the United States -- is not going to put our national security first and do everything he can to defend the country, I think is an insult. And to be honest, John McCain -- and the John McCain of 2000 would never have allowed that to happen. Unfortunately, the John McCain of 2008 is not the John McCain of 2000; he's completely different. And unfortunately, he's willing to question these other candidates' patriotism and their desire to keep this country safe. It's unfortunate, but that's politics.

SCOTT: Well, Chip, what about it? Is it fair game to bring up --

SALTSMAN: Well, Chris is right --

SCOTT: -- some of these endorsements?

SALTSMAN: Chris is right -- it is in the playbook. But Obama used it before we did when he would sit down -- when he said he would sit down with leaders of terrorist countries. I mean, he's got Fidel Castro's endorsement; I'm not sure that's going to help him too much in Florida. Maybe he'll get the president of Iraq and North Korea and commit the trifecta for going into this.

I mean, this is just Obama's comments coming back to haunt him, where he said he'd sit down with these leaders, and now these leaders are saying, “Hey, this is a great guy for us 'cause he's not going to bother us too much.”