BY TAYLOR MARSH
John McCain stepped in it again this morning and his team has to know it. They’re circulating the exact full quote that was let loose on “Today,” but not even that helps. It comes at a long line of blunders that include nonchalance on staying in Iraq for 100 years, getting Sunni and Shia wrong, and now this. Coming after his indifference about Webb’s new G.I. bill makes it even worse.
Matt Lauer: “If it’s working Senator, do you now have a better estimate
of when American forces can come home from Iraq?”John McCain: “No, but that’s not too important. What’s
important is the casualties in Iraq, Americans are in South Korea, Americans
are in Japan, American troops are in Germany. That’s all fine. American
casualties and the ability to withdraw; we will be able to withdraw. General
Petraeus is going to tell us in July when he thinks we are. But the key to
it is that we don’t want any more Americans in harm’s way. That way, they
will be safe, and serve our country and come home with honor and victory,
not in defeat, which is what Senator Obama’s proposal would have done. I’m
proud of them. And they’re doing a great job. And we are succeeding and it’s
fascinating that Senator Obama still doesn’t realize that.”
It’s not just the casualties. It’s our occupation and the continued propping
up of the Iraqi government at an expense that is breaking this country’s budget
as our own domestic programs go unattended. It’s about policing a civil war. In addition, the debt created by
the Iraq war is beyond what anyone first comprehended and that’s not even counting
the financial responsibility due to veterans health care, which is seldom figured in correctly and will last a generation.
General
Wesley Clark’s words ring loudly today:
“I know he’s trying to get traction by seeking to play to what he thinks
is his strong suit of national security,” Clark said of McCain while
speaking from his office in Little Rock, Arkansas. “The truth is that,
in national security terms, he’s largely untested and untried. He’s never
been responsible for policy formulation. He’s never had leadership in a crisis,
or in anything larger than his own element on an aircraft carrier or [in managing]
his own congressional staff. It’s not clear that this is going to be the strong
suit that he thinks it is.”
Additionally, as I’ve been covering since it broke, the Iraqis
aren’t too crazy to say the least about McCain’s idea for their
country.
High-level negotiations over the future role of the U.S. military in Iraq
have turned into an increasingly acrimonious public debate, with Iraqi politicians
denouncing what they say are U.S. demands to maintain nearly 60 bases in their
country indefinitely.Top Iraqi officials are calling for a radical reduction of the U.S. military’s
role here after the U.N. mandate authorizing its presence expires at the end
of this year. Encouraged by recent Iraqi military successes, government officials
have said that the United States should agree to confine American troops to
military bases unless the Iraqis ask for their assistance, with some saying
Iraq might be better off without them. …
Does McCain get it? Here’s the statement from the campaign:
“The Obama campaign is embarking on a false attack on John McCain to
hide their own candidate’s willingness to disregard facts on the ground
in pursuit of withdrawal no matter what the costs. John McCain was asked if
he had a ‘better estimate’ for a timeline for withdrawal. As John
McCain has always said, that is not as important as conditions on the ground
and the recommendations of commanders in the field. Any reasonable person
who reads the full transcript would see this and reject the Obama campaign’s
attempt to manipulate, twist and distort the truth.” —Tucker Bounds,
spokesman John McCain 2008
It’s not a “false attack” when a contending commander in chief makes light of troops and their sacrifice, as well as that of their family. It’s the type of statement that also has the potential to depress enlistment, which is already taking a hit because of McCain’s buddy, Bush.
What are the costs of staying in a country whose own people don’t want us there?
“Not as important” is not the same thing as “not too important.”
The stretching of our military force structure requires we redeploy. The Marines
and Army are stretched. Casualties do not stop the debt hemorrhaging of occupying
Iraq, nor lessen the strain on the military. We haven’t even begun to cover the inability to pay attention to what’s unraveling once again in Afghanistan.
And not to nitpick, but McCain has yet to utter a word about Pakistan. This is really alarming.
This is yet another example of Republicans ignoring what our troops are sacrificing, adding more proof that the myth of Republicans being strong on understand the complexity of what our troops require is just that, a myth.
Stubborn refusal to accept the entire picture shows a myopic foreign policy vision or lack thereof. Remind
you of anyone?
Comments are closed.