Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Expose the Real McCain

Here is the video of John McCain's 100 years in Iraq comment.
John McCain wants to stay in Iraq for 100 years, but his lobbyist-ran campaign has and will continue to viciously attack anyone who remind the American people.

We know it -- we have it on tape to prove it -- and with your help, the American people will know it as well with our latest ad on John McCain and Iraq. - democrats.org

CJr has what is says is the full quote in context:
Here’s McCain’s full quote, in context, from back in January:
Questioner: President Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for fifty years…McCain: Maybe a hundred. Make it one hundred. We’ve been in South Korea, we’ve been in Japan for sixty years. We’ve been in South Korea for fifty 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 would 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.


How does McCain propose to have a ground war where Americans are no longer being injured, harmed, wounded or killed? Is there such a plan that we are not using now which would end the killings? If so, we should switch over to that plan today! I don't think such a thing exists. If we stay in a war in Iraq, Americans will keep getting killed. Isn't Al Qaeda just an American creation? Isn't it just one small group that gets exaggerated coverage? The biggest factions are the Kerds, Sunnis,  Shia the way I understand it. There will be no Al Qaeda territory.
Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, strong Kurdish ethnic minority, secularist Sunni Muslims and others would suppress any real power bid by the fringe Sunni religious extremists of al-Qaida, al-Fayadh said. - ith



So, McCain seems to be out of touch with reality of the situation in Iraq. Or, more likely, he is going with the Neocon plan to use fear of Al Qaeda as the reason the US should have military bases in Iraq.

1 comment:

Braden said...

I don't understand this. You have the quote right in front of you and you are still blind. Yes, he is willing to "be in Iraq" like we have "been in South Korea" or like we have "been in Japan". There is no ground war in SK or Japan, just as he does not want a 100 year war in Iraq. He, like me and everyone else that I know wants the war in Iraq to end and for there to be no violence there. He is not talking about a 100 year war. You are stretching to outrageous lengths to get that intention out of his quote. He is saying that we may need to have a presence in Iraq for a long long time. This may be strange stuff, but it is true, and that is what you are supposed to specialize in. Being "in Iraq" does not mean bombing and shooting.

You are perfectly in your right to disagree with him about the need to even have any presence there (although it is folly to assume that we could completely pull out right away). You are certainly in your right to want an end to war. But for the love of truth, stop wresting his words to fit your political agenda.