McCain Won't Rule Out Pre-Emptive War

WESTPORT, Conn. — Republican Sen. John McCain refused Wednesday to rule out a pre-emptive war against another country, although he said one would be very unlikely.

The likely Republican presidential nominee was asked Wednesday at a town-hall style meeting if he would reject "the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war," a reference to Bush's decision to invade Iraq without it having attacked the United States.

"I don't think you could make a blanket statement about pre-emptive war, because obviously, it depends on the threat that the United States of America faces," McCain told his audience at Bridgewater Associates Inc., a global investment firm.

"If someone is about to launch a weapon that would devastate America, or have the capability to do so, obviously, you would have to act immediately in defense of this nation's national security interests."

McCain said he would consult more closely and more carefully "not with every member of Congress, but certainly the leaders of Congress."

The Iraq war was in the spotlight this week as Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander there, gave Congress a status report on the war. McCain argues for keeping troops in Iraq to capitalize on security gains, despite a recent outbreak of violence. His Democratic rivals, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton argue for withdrawing troops.

Comments

[missjabez]

Great! McCain promises 4 more years of Bush's aggressive foreign policy. I think if he is elected, we probably will be in Iraq for 100 more years so to satisfy his enthusiasm for fighting. I'm starting to think he's a lunatic. Let's see, who are we going to attack next? How about France? They didn't support us with Iraq. They're evil!

[Binea]

"When Ron Paul proposes abolishing the Federal Reserve Board and returning to the gold standard, he is taking Jefferson’s position in his great debate with Hamilton over the propriety of a government-run bank. As explained in my forthcoming book, Hamilton’s Curse, Hamilton wanted a big, expansive and intrusive central government that would centrally plan the economy and pursue "imperial glory" in foreign affairs. He wanted America to imitate the British empire. In order to achieve this, he knew that a government-run bank would be necessary. Jefferson, on the other hand, believed that the sole purpose of government was to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people, and that such a bank would be a danger to liberty. The two men debated the issue in long essays submitted to President George Washington, who eventually adopted the position of his fellow Federalist, Hamilton. (The Federalists in Congress played a role by passing legislation that enlarged the District of Columbia so that it would be adjacent to Washington’s property on the Potomac River. They had blocked Washington’s request for this until he signed the bank bill.)

[davesideas]

Oops, binea, you seem to have dropped into the wrong article; or will we find this comment on every article?

I much appreciate the history lesson, though.

[Binea]

Federal Reserve policies also benefit big spending politicians who use the inflated currency created by the Fed to hide the true costs of the welfare-warfare state.
The key words here and in the other post I posted first are .."imperia­l glory"
Now look at our economy and the Mess caused by Iraq .Who Put Greenspan in power and who put Bernake in power.
Obama is not Ron Paul but at least Obama is willing to have the most open government ever.backe­d up by his help with the legislation calling for it.

[Binea]

Dave..are you following me ? Stalker ! if you can't figure out the relevance you have a problem.

[ChangeNow]

Relevance?

[julescator]

John MacCain has no chance of winning in November. Wait until the 527s get through with him For the record, John McCain spent exactly 20 hours, that's right 20 hours in combat before being shot down. He was only in Viet Nam for 23 days when he was shot down. He has NO combat experience. My son is a bigger WAR HERO than mcCain - 20 hours??????? Not to mention he sang like a bird to his captures to get medical help. The military called him “songbird”! He was in the Navy less than 10 years most of that time as a POW. Many say he was cocky and incompetent. He lost 5 planes and didn't get kicked out because of Daddy. Also, he was # 790 our of 795 students at the Navel Academy. We don't need another D student. McCain is full of it. He has people thinking he is a WAR hero - that is BUNK and he knows it. 20 hours????? lol lol My son fought in Panama, Kuwaite, Bosnia, Iraq - That is a WAR Hero - not some guy who has 20 hours of combat and didn't make the cut.

[scooperss]

YEP

[babybabybaby]

i have 20 hours of experience watching ER, can i scrub in and start rooting around someone's insides?

[robodweeb]

I wonder if the reason he was able to graduate from the Academy at all is because his dad's first name was "Admiral".

Haven't we been there, done that?

[rollingdivision]

McCain is right on this, no president or presidential candidate should make any blanket foreign commitments. Not ruling preemptive attacks in not in any way ruling them in.

[davesideas]

that's what the soon to be last President said...

How did we ever survive the cold war? if we'd had leaders who lack the nuance that Bush and McCain lack, we'd have turned the planet back to whatever can survive a nuclear conflagrat­ion...

[ClevelandTom]

Yes. It really puzzles me as to why the current crop of political leaders, especially on the GOP side, look at our opponents with such fear and trepidation.

The old Soviet Union? Now there was an adversary that had real WMDs and, although there were some who wanted a pre-emptive strike on them, our leaders found a better, mostly peaceful way to combat that threat.

Now we face a few thousand people armed with AK's and some plastique explosives. Somehow thay are regarded as a dire threat.

[mattwin]

McCain claims he does not understand economics, and by remarrying a rich wife has not had to experience the results of working a job and raising a family on the fruits of that labor. The financing of the pre-emptive Iraq war using credit with China and Japan and not sharing that cost burden has caused the dollar to weaken. By bankrupting the US through debt, confidence in the dollar is deminishing and when the American worker has to pay with dollars in global markets, prices rise. The problem with this is that the costs for goods is going up way faster than the incomes of Americans.

On the other hands, countries that have not participated economically in supporting this war are finding that their currency is keeping up with world inflation.

Starting another pre-emptive war would require either raising taxes or creating more debt. In either case, the American family cannot afford it. The alternative to raising income taxes would be to create a war tax. Every American family could pay off that debt at the rate of 30 greand per family. I bet they could get a sub prime loan on their negative home equity to pay for it.

[dawkinsisgod]

If we're going to invade countries that harbor terrorists maybe we should start with Great Britain - they're harboring and schooling these guys!

See how the argument suddenly doesn't look so strong?

[davesideas]

gosh, we'd have to attack Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming...­homes of our own, home grown, terrorists­...

[Duncan77]

People in Britain used to say the same thing about attacking the US in the 70s and 80s since the IRA got a lot of its funding from Irish American groups and Sinn Fein were invited to the White House.

[nick1936]

Don't you folks get it yet you invade a country kill and destroy their people and structure then you spend Billions of Dollars to rebuild it giving your friends the contracts to do it and after more than 5 years they still don't have running water or electricity

[robodweeb]

Gee, a guy who sings the praises of bombing people likes war.

Whod'a guessed.

[waynesmyer]

But! But! I reserve the right to start pre-emptive wars, Today IRAQ! tomorrow IRAN ! and next Sunday, I think I will take Hugo Chavez out! Like, uh! THEY ALL GOT'S OIL! RIGHT? your next beloved War Presinator, Johnny "Ride The Bomb" McCain

p.s. I approve this importtand FAUX News Alert! Dr. Strangelove
UP THE GOP!! (Grand Old Pedophiles)

[Binea]

This is why the one Republican who was against the Iraq war,and has been speaking out against pre emptive wars has been labled a kook.That and his wanting to get rid of the Fed. "Though the Federal Reserve policy harms the average American, it benefits those in a position to take advantage of the cycles in monetary policy. The main beneficiaries are those who receive access to artificially inflated money and/or credit before the inflationary effects of the policy impact the entire economy.Fe­deral Reserve policies also benefit big spending politicians who use the inflated currency created by the Fed to hide the true costs of the welfare-warfare state. It is time for Congress to put the interests of the American people ahead of the special interests and their own appetite for big government. " from Ron Paul..legi­slation to abolish the Fed.02

[davesideas]

binea, your getting boring...

[Binea]

People do tend to get bored when they don't pay attention. I looked at some comments in your profile..I don't see why you don't understand.

[VivaZapata]

my friends, make it a hundred preemptive wars.

[StillAmused]

One thing's certain... come Hell or high water, them North Vietnamese are gonna PAY!

Serious mental health issues at play here...

[davesideas]

you can almost see the dominoes falling: first he'll take out Iran, then move on through Afghanistan into Pakistan, blow the hell out of India, cut up through Bangladesh, cakewalk through Burma and Laos, and drop the big one on Viet Nam...(oka­y, I admit it, I had to dig out a map; but that's more than the Bush administration was willing to do...)

[Macready]

what is it with these lunatic war mongers . . . pre-emptive wars are illegal . . . so was the invasion and occupation of Iraq .. .

[WLA]

www.therealmccain.com

[SCG]

http://therealmccain.com/

[sddem]

I hope that someone will remember that a pre-emptive strike on another country is unconstitutional and in violation of the oath of office requiring an individual to support and defend the constitution. It was also a violation of the oath of office to abdicate war making authority to the executive. That being the case, we now have the right and duty to remove those now in office. Every last stinking one of them. If you are going to swear an oath, make sure you understand what the oath means and act accordingly.

[Tropiholic]

One more good reason to make sure this guy NEVER gets to be President.

[davesideas]

McCain is seriously Dr. Strangelove material

[sparkandy]

Did anybody read anyting besides the headline? You know, the part about how he said:

Republican Sen. John McCain refused Wednesday to rule out a pre-emptive war against another country, although he said one would be very unlikely.

It's like the old saying 'Never say never'. Does anyone with a brain really think Obama can GUARANTEE that a situation will never arise when he would do the same? Or is it okay for him to pick one country, Pakistan, and say he might go to war there, but it's not okay for McCain to leave all options open?

No one WANTS war, not even McCain. But it's totally unrealistic to think by electing a certain candidate that wars will automatically stop happening and that if a palpable danger to the US existed that we'd just sit around and do nothing. And if the Obama supporters are saying that no matter what the threat or damage to the US, Obama will keep us out of a war at all costs, then I'm scared. There comes a time when a dog, a person, a country HAS to act in self defense when it's clear that the best defense is a good offense.

[BlueStateMan]

Don't think for a SECOND that the people who DELIBERATELY got us into Iraq didn't "want" war.

That's EXACTLY what they wanted.

....& how do you explain, "Bomb, bomb, bomb.... bomb, bomb Iran"?

[sparkandy]

Okay. You got me. The MIC did want war - they always want war. But the point stands, that in this particular instance McCain is correct. We can't rule out ANYTHING absolutely in today's world. And any politician who does is a) not very bright, b)pandering to a naive constituentcy, or c) lying. And we've had enough pandering and lying for the rest of time. The next Pres needs to be able to see the reality of the world today and deal with it. If McCain's that guy, I'm not sure. But I'm even less sure about Obama.

[mommadona]

Warmonger.

Prove me wrong.

Bound by his words.

Pretty strong.

Won't take long.

[garbovatwins]

There is no room for your kind of thinking on your planet. Humanity's survival should be paramount in the psyche of each and every human for the sake of your species.