McCain Criticizes Obama and Clinton on Iraq
(CBS)
On the day before Gen. David Petraeus will be grilled on Capitol Hill about Iraq, John McCain will criticize his Democratic opponents this morning during a speech in Kansas City, Mo.
“I do not want to keep our troops in Iraq a minute longer than necessary to secure our interests there," McCain will say at the Veterans of Foreign Wars headquarters, according to prepared remarks.
"But I do not believe that anyone should make promises as a candidate for President that they cannot keep if elected. To promise a withdrawal of our forces from Iraq, regardless of the calamitous consequences to the Iraqi people, our most vital interests, and the future of the Middle East, is the height of irresponsibility. It is a failure of leadership,” he continues.
“The American people deserve the truth from their leaders. They deserve a candid assessment of the progress we have managed to make in the last year in preventing the worst from happening in Iraq, of the very serious difficulties that remain, and of the grave consequences of a hasty, reckless, and irresponsible withdrawal. If we are honest about the opportunities and the risks, I believe they will have the patience to allow us the time necessary to obtain our objectives.
“That honesty is my responsibility, and it is also the responsibility of Senators Obama and Clinton, as well as Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress. Doing the right thing in the heat of a political campaign is not always the easiest thing. But when 4,000 Americans have given their lives so that America does not suffer the worst consequences of our failure in Iraq, it is a necessary thing. In such a grave matter, we must put the nation’s interests before our own ambitions.”
Meantime, McCain concluded his biography tour over the weekend in his home state of Arizona. In his last speech he talked about the early years of Senate career and credited former Sens. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., and Mo Udall, D-Ariz., for their bipartisan influence on him. McCain said the challenges we face today require the same type of effort, as he vowed to lead in their example by reaching across the aisle.
Tomorrow, McCain will attend the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with Petraeus.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
The victory is within our grasp, but not anytime soon.
Anytime soon we can see a complete reconciliation of all parties in Iraq but, then there%u2019s Iran!
$12 Billion Dollars a month every month, month after month is what the American People are paying for and the people conducting (taking the money) this campaign have, and continue to lie to us.
And that would include John McCain who seems constitutionally incapable of speaking the truth about Iraq.
Frank Rich:
Mr. McCain was just as wrong about Basra as he was in 2003, when he said the war would be %u201Cbrief%u201D and be paid for by Iraqi oil revenues. Or as he was in the 1990s, when he championed extravagant State Department funding for the war instigator Ahmad Chalabi, who%u2019d already been branded untrustworthy by the C.I.A. (The relationship between Mr. Chalabi and the former lobbyist Charles Black, now a chief McCain campaign strategist, is explored in a new book, %u201CThe Man Who Pushed America to War,%u201D by Aram Roston.)
As for Basra, Mr. McCain told Joe Klein of Time in January that it was %u201Cnot a problem.%u201D He told John King of CNN while in Baghdad last month that Mr. Sadr%u2019s %u201Cinfluence has been on the wane for a long time.%u201D When the battle ended last week, Mr. McCain said: %u201CApparently it was Sadr who asked for the cease-fire, declared a cease-fire. It wasn%u2019t Maliki. Very rarely do I see the winning side declare a cease-fire.%u201D At least the last of those sentences was accurate. It was indeed the losing side %u2014 Maliki%u2019s %u2014 that pleaded for the cease-fire.