ALBUQUERQUE, July 15, 2008

McCain: "I Know How To Win Wars"

GOP Candidate Knocks Obama's Afghanistan Plans, Says Current Strategy In Iraq Should Be Applied

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(AP)  Republican John McCain said Tuesday he knows "how to win wars" and that the strategy of increasing troop levels in Iraq should also be applied to Afghanistan.

Moments earlier, his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, said in a speech in Washington that the U.S. must end the war in Iraq and that Afghanistan, by contrast, is "a war that we have to win."

McCain has described Obama's call for withdrawal from Iraq as tantamount to declaring defeat and points to the lower levels of violence in Iraq as evidence that sending additional U.S. troops there has been a successful strategy.

"Sen. Obama will tell you we can't win in Afghanistan without losing in Iraq. In fact, he has it exactly backwards," McCain told a town hall meeting. "It is precisely the success of the surge in Iraq that shows us the way to succeed in Afghanistan."

McCain added: "I know how to win wars. And if I'm elected president, I will turn around the war in Afghanistan, just as we have turned around the war in Iraq, with a comprehensive strategy for victory."

McCain laid out a blueprint for intensified military efforts in Afghanistan, where nine U.S. soldiers were killed and 14 injured in a militant attack Sunday, the U.S. military's highest death toll there in three years.

"The status quo is not acceptable. Security in Afghanistan has deteriorated, and our enemies are on the offensive," he said. "From the moment the next president walks into the Oval Office, he will face critical decisions and crucial decisions about Afghanistan."

Three more brigades should be sent to Afghanistan, McCain said, as well as a presidential envoy to deal with countries vying for power in the region.

In his speech, McCain said the extra brigades could be brought to Afghanistan as troops are removed from Iraq, but speaking later to reporters he hedged on whether some of those troops could come from NATO instead of the United States.

He also insisted there was a "vast difference" between Obama's call for more troops in Afghanistan and his own.

Obama "has no strategy," insisted McCain. "All he has done is say we need more troops."

McCain contends more foreign troops won't be enough to bring security to Afghanistan.

The Afghan army must be doubled to about 160,000 troops, he said, and he called on foreign countries to help pay for the cost of the increase. The increase in security problems has come even with more NATO troops in Afghanistan. McCain said the area needs a supreme unified military commander in charge of all the forces in the region to mount an effective counterinsurgency program.

The border with Pakistan is particularly troublesome for U.S. anti-terrorism efforts in the region. In his town-hall comments, McCain faulted Obama for saying that he would consider unilateral military action in Pakistan to strike at al Qaeda leadership.

"In trying to sound tough, he has made it harder for the people whose support we most need to provide it. I won't bluster and I won't make idle threats. But understand this, when I am commander in chief, there will be nowhere the terrorists can run and nowhere they can hide," he said.

McCain also proposed appointing a White House czar on the Afghanistan war.

President Bush has already appointed a so-called "war czar" for both Iraq and Afghanistan, but McCain said he wanted someone reporting to him with direct responsibility for Afghanistan. Obama said Monday he would send at least two more brigades to Afghanistan.

"I will get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice," McCain said of the al Qaeda leader the U.S. has pursued futilely since the group's Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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by oscarez July 15, 2008 4:27 PM PDT
"the U.S. military''s highest death toll there in three years."

The U.S.S.R. all over again only this time it''s the U.S.A.. McCain: "I Know How To Win Wars". I''m sure the Russians said the same thing.
Reply to this comment
by noloyalisti July 15, 2008 4:34 PM PDT
If only McSame and McBush knew what they are trying to win. Since we know they both lied us into an invasion that was always for Exxon and Chevron, why don''t they just admit it. Is it that they don''t want our allies to see them for the second coming of Nazi Germany? Taking colonies for "protection" of the Fatherland.
Reply to this comment
by kofiananimus July 15, 2008 4:38 PM PDT
McCain: "I Know How To Win Wars"
Me: "Do you know how to AVOID unnecessary wars?"
Reply to this comment
by omnibus66 July 15, 2008 4:43 PM PDT
Republican John McCain said Tuesday he knows "how to win wars"

Is he referring to Viet Nam, where he was shot down and became a prisoner of war? You don''t win wars by getting captured by the enemy. I suppose he would win a boxing match by repeatedly hitting his opponent in the fist with his face.

Or maybe he has just forgotten that he didn''t win the Viet Nam war singlehandedly. Just what war did he win? Maybe the war on truth.
Reply to this comment
by rudy654-2009 July 15, 2008 4:47 PM PDT
"I know how to win wars."

Starting with Vietnam?
Reply to this comment
by ariel133 July 15, 2008 4:54 PM PDT
OBAMA is the problem with America,..the lack of balance and justice- the lack of real CHANGE- If you keep focusing on something that is not feasible you will be disappointed and it will reinforce your belief that fighting for your country is bad- Don''''t you want to WIN THE WAR on terror??!! Obama has not right to make statements having not been to IRAQ...it is MUTE.
Reply to this comment
by frootloop47 July 15, 2008 5:01 PM PDT
OBAMA has always said the REAL war on terrorism is in Afghanistan...NOT IRAQ. We should''ve never gone into IRAQ.

I''m not really sure what McCorpse''s real experience is.
Reply to this comment
by rgrxx175 July 15, 2008 5:02 PM PDT
oh he knows alright by privatizing the military and giving tax brakes to oil corporations...
Reply to this comment
by hungry1968 July 15, 2008 5:04 PM PDT
McCain: "I Know How To Win Wars"





By continuing your predecessors failed policies regarding the country we never should have invaded in the first place?
Reply to this comment
by frootloop47 July 15, 2008 5:05 PM PDT
Richard Clark was on MSNBC last night. He gave about 5 strategies that OBAMA had predicted correctly months BEFORE the US Military started doing them.
Reply to this comment
by samthetvcat July 15, 2008 5:05 PM PDT
pt 2

I thought when I was supporting Barack in the primaries he was going to be the type of person to just come right out and tell people, look we can''t have it all ways. We can try to best maximize our hands but we aren''t going to be able to ''win'' at BOTH A AND B at the same time - that''s a pipe dream. Instead he comes across as wimpy and a liar.

I don''t know ... all we seem to get is this strange superficial discussion that doesn''t seem geared towards moving forward in a strong, direct way ...
Reply to this comment
by samthetvcat July 15, 2008 5:05 PM PDT
pt 1
---"Sen. Obama will tell you we can''t win in Afghanistan without losing in Iraq. In fact, he has it exactly backwards," McCain told a town hall meeting. "It is precisely the success of the surge in Iraq that shows us the way to succeed in Afghanistan."---

Barack has adamantly in a very high-profile way now 5 or 6 times that he''s committed to withdrawal within 16 months (even though he''s also been equally admanant that he''s not committing).

Technically, it''s not a flip it''s an in-your-face lie because we all know he''s going to back away from that right? Because otherwise he''s going to get hammered for ''letting'' Iran fill the power vacuum in Iran, which isn''t going to happen under McSame''s (thanks to his 100 year plan).

I think people are very conflicted when it comes to war and security in the sense that they want everything and don''t want to hear that we''ve got limited choices - like now people say we shouldn''t have invaded, but given the exact same choice I''m not sure people would even now be comfortable leaving a defiant Saddam in power. People want to withdraw from Iraq, but they don''t want to accept the consequence that would mean a rising Iran/Iraq Shiite superpower. People want Iran contained but they also don''t like feeling trapped and seeing our economy go to pot as a result of not being able to leave.
Reply to this comment
by frootloop47 July 15, 2008 5:08 PM PDT
Stick with Barack SamTheTVcat.
McCain is just gonna be more of the same.
Reply to this comment
by rgrxx175 July 15, 2008 5:09 PM PDT
after 6 years of war, now you know how to win, what a joke!!!
Reply to this comment
by hungry1968 July 15, 2008 5:09 PM PDT
McCain: "I Know How To Win Wars"





Other than WWII, what war has America won while John McCain has been alive?

So how does he KNOW how to win a war? His POW experiences? His 894 out of 899 aviator school grade? His two crashed planes?
Reply to this comment
by rgrxx175 July 15, 2008 5:10 PM PDT
keep are troops there 100 years, oh yeah thats the way to win...
Reply to this comment
by rgrxx175 July 15, 2008 5:11 PM PDT
by the way he crashed 5 planes, paid by are taxes....
Reply to this comment
by hungry1968 July 15, 2008 5:12 PM PDT
Stick with Barack SamTheTVcat.
McCain is just gonna be more of the same.

Posted by frootloop47 at 05:08 PM : Jul 15, 2008




Except with the addition of the Iran-America war, and the accompanying tens of thousands of dead American soldiers and sailors.
Reply to this comment
by pr_boxer July 15, 2008 5:13 PM PDT
Yeah! sure, as I remember we lost the last one you helped with!
Reply to this comment
by rgrxx175 July 15, 2008 5:14 PM PDT
mccain knows how to crash planes, he''s good at that...
Reply to this comment
by pr_boxer July 15, 2008 5:15 PM PDT
C''mon McBUSH, your Win-Loss record is 0-1, with that you''ll be sent to the minors.
Reply to this comment
by samthetvcat July 15, 2008 5:15 PM PDT
PS So like I don''t feel bad one bit for Barack if he gets screamed at for being a flip-flopper. Because isn''t he conciously choosing to go this particular route of claiming to be for a 16 month withdrawal which he is all but certain not going to fulfill.

If he''s choosing not to go the route of trying to diminish public expectations to more realistic levels, then he justly deserves the blowback he gets when he''s caught trying to be all things to everybody.

He better get used to it because if he becomes President, the Right is going to be screaming about how under McCain''s plan containment of Iran wouldn''t be the problem it has become under Barack''s withdrawal of troops; the left is going to be screaming about how Barack lied about getting troops out in 16 months during the election to get their votes and is now taking too much time and is spending $$$ that should have been used on other programs here at home.

Oh well . . .
Reply to this comment
by remmeler July 15, 2008 5:16 PM PDT
I don''t remember McCain standing behind and supporting the Generals that said it would take many more troops in Iraq in the beginning. I also don''t remember him calling for more troops to secure the country after the fall. I also don''t remember him disagreeing with the dissolving of the army and the many decisions that made it much more difficult or maybe impossible to win in Iraq. So my question is, how is it now that he knows how to win the war?
Reply to this comment
by samthetvcat July 15, 2008 5:16 PM PDT
---"Stick with Barack SamTheTVcat.
McCain is just gonna be more of the same."---
Posted by frootloop47

Still undecided :)
Reply to this comment
by pr_boxer July 15, 2008 5:17 PM PDT
Well, you do know how to snag a rich woman, as far as your "war" record goes, well you lost in Vietnam, and as of now you''re still trying to figure out who''s on who''s side in the Middle east
Reply to this comment
by frootloop47 July 15, 2008 5:19 PM PDT
Sam,
I think you''re jumping the gun on Obama not accomplishing he goal of troops withdrawals from Iraq over 16 months. The only issue up in the air is how many advisor/trainer/support troops need to be left to continue helping the Iraqis.

Reply to this comment
by idnnsg July 15, 2008 5:19 PM PDT
McCain knows how to get CAPTURED by the enemy and TORTURED, which he said didn''t work on him, but now he SUPPORTS TORTURE for everybody else! Is THAT how he thinks he''s going to "win" this war?

McCain is simple in.sane!
Reply to this comment
by idnnsg July 15, 2008 5:20 PM PDT
Ooops! I made a typo. Here it is again:

McCain knows how to get CAPTURED by the enemy and TORTURED, which he said didn''t work on him, but now he SUPPORTS TORTURE for everybody else! Is THAT how he thinks he''s going to "win" this war?

McCain is simply in.sane!
Reply to this comment
by samthetvcat July 15, 2008 5:20 PM PDT
---"Sam,
I think you''''re jumping the gun on Obama not accomplishing he goal of troops withdrawals from Iraq over 16 months. The only issue up in the air is how many advisor/trainer/support troops need to be left to continue helping the Iraqis."---
Posted by frootloop47

You say that based on what? Trust that he''s honest?
Reply to this comment
by idnnsg July 15, 2008 5:21 PM PDT
But McCain is also "simple", as in mentally incompetent, so I guess I could have just left the first post as it was.
Reply to this comment
by frootloop47 July 15, 2008 5:24 PM PDT
I trust Obama tons more than McCain.
Gotta go.
Reply to this comment
by ubrew12 July 15, 2008 5:25 PM PDT
''I know how to win wars''

Yeah. You put a match to a trillion tax dollars. Wala!

Genius.
Reply to this comment
by txgrouch2006 July 15, 2008 5:32 PM PDT
As showN by some of his other recent comments, McCain also displays a remarkable talent for LOSING ELECTIONS.

Guess what, Archie. If you lose the election, YOU DON''T GET TO WIN THE WAR!
Reply to this comment
by imarltool2u July 15, 2008 5:39 PM PDT
Crashing 5 airplanes, graduating (which is being kind)from college 5th from the bottom of his class, divorcing 2 wives, and getting shot down becuase he refused to obey orders, and doing a propaganda film for the communists in North Vietman makes McSame "highly" qualified.
Reply to this comment
by tx_doughboy July 15, 2008 5:44 PM PDT
That''s great! How does he define winning though??
Reply to this comment
by trishab4 July 15, 2008 5:53 PM PDT
Ok folks, get ready to be Prisonners of War like he did in Vietnam. This is what he knows; to survive to prisons in foes'' land!

-McCane you need to know the only wars we win are those we don''t, or avoid fighting.
Reply to this comment
by Stratmaster7 July 15, 2008 5:55 PM PDT
McCain claiming he knows how to win wars is like me claiming i know how to win a world series because I played little league baseball and watch the Cubs games on TV.
Reply to this comment
by rgrxx175 July 15, 2008 5:56 PM PDT
wait is he talking about the war on taxing the rich, i think he won that one.
Reply to this comment
by pr_boxer July 15, 2008 6:02 PM PDT
uh.. refresh my memory, just which war was it he won?
Reply to this comment
by raoul12-2009 July 15, 2008 6:04 PM PDT
McCain graduated from the US Naval Academy 894th in a class of 899. He wrecked five jets before they finally got rid of him. Obviously he is not the brightest bulb on the tree. He was shot down by an out-of-date Soviet missile by men with no experience in anti-aircraft warfare because he did not follow the rules of evasion taught at the Academy. Let''s just say the man has only one oar in the water.

He disses two in five people on the face of the earth by referring to all Asians as %u201CGooks.%u201D He may be viewed as a %u201Chero,%u201D but I don%u2019t think being shot down qualifies him for the job of president.
Reply to this comment
by kissamaarse July 15, 2008 6:05 PM PDT
How do you win wars, John? You''ve never won one. Throw away young lives and squander the American Treasury for Big Oil?
Reply to this comment
by Stratmaster7 July 15, 2008 6:06 PM PDT
If we were really in a war it might even be an issue. since we are in an occupation where the opposition is not a military, it doesn''t.
Reply to this comment
by kissamaarse July 15, 2008 6:10 PM PDT
Now McCain is copy-catting Obama on increasing troop levels in Afghanistan to fight the real al Qaeda, the Taliban, and maybe catch Bin Laden. Problem is, John, you''ll have to take those troops from Iraq and who will defend Big Oil and all the no-bid contracting war-profiteers?
Reply to this comment
by noloyalisti July 15, 2008 6:17 PM PDT
Yes, what are we winning? Do we win when the Iraqis are buying their own oil back from Exxon and Chevron? Or is it when the Iraqi people are all slaves of the robber baron corporations like Wal-Mart, AT&T and Nike? A sweatshop in every house? Workers for $2 a day otherwise they starve to death. The American NAFTA way.
Reply to this comment
by sgtrds10-4 July 15, 2008 6:17 PM PDT
McCain: "I Know How To Win Wars"

We don''t want someone who onloy knows how to win wars! We want somone to STOP wars!
Reply to this comment
by the74blaster July 15, 2008 6:20 PM PDT
McCain: "I Know How To Win Wars"

We don''''t want someone who onloy knows how to win wars! We want somone to STOP wars!

Posted by SgtRDS10-4,

I would also add someone who knows how to avoid optional conflicts and make better use of taxpayer dollars.
Reply to this comment
by kissamaarse July 15, 2008 6:27 PM PDT
When McCain tells Obama he needs more foreign policy experience, and that he should visit countries like Czechoslovakia ...

(CNN) %u2013 For the second time in two days, John McCain has referred to current events in %u201CCzechoslovakia%u201D %u2013 a country that officially ceased to exist in January of 1993.

Question is if he''s figured out the difference between a Sunni or a *****, or a an Arab and a Persian.
Reply to this comment
by cdfoxtrot1 July 15, 2008 6:42 PM PDT
McCain: "I Know How To Win Wars"
Yeah, I know how to win wars, too. DON''T START THEM.
Reply to this comment
by whitemale08 July 15, 2008 6:51 PM PDT
With all do respect Mr. McCain, we don''t need people like you especially in the White House.

You''re to War Happy.
Reply to this comment
by whitemale08 July 15, 2008 6:55 PM PDT
...but you don''t know anything about the economy.

Great. That''s Fantastic !
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