"A Million Years in Iraq" - President McCain's Dangerous Recruiting Poster for Insurgents

I can't believe it. John McCain admitted that under his administration, the US could be in Iraq for 100 years.

Now, yes, he was talking about a smaller scale strategic presence in Iraq, a la Germany. I get that. And while that's something to be considered, if Iraq ever got to the point where it was stable (a prospect that looks unlikely anytime soon), you simply do not say that. You don't muse out loud about it. Not now. Not with Iraq being the powder keg that it is. Not with insurgent elements laying low and trying to rebuild their ranks.

Maybe you could chalk it up to him being tired, which wouldn't make it better, but would at least give an explanation. But, later on, when asked about it by David Corn of Mother Jones, McCain said he could see us being there "a thousand years or a million years." Rather than realize that what he said was incredibly stupid in terms of helping the troops, he showed absolutely no understanding of the ramifications of his words, and upped the ante!

Thank God it was just Senator McCain who said that. If it had been President McCain, those words - the U.S. wants to be in Iraq for "100 years, 1000 years, or 1,000,000 years" - would be manna from heaven for the insurgent cause. If it had been President McCain, there is no way that a statement like that would help the troops over there. It would just make an already dangerous presence there even more dangerous.

This, of course, isn't the first time that McCain has made comments that, if he was President, would have slapped a target on the backs of our troops. Some months ago, he thought it would be funny to sing "Bomb Iran". Can we really afford a President that jokes about bombing one of the largest Muslim countries in the world? Not any more than we can afford a President who tells Iraqis that we're going to be there for million years.

John McCain is a true war hero, and we all respect his service. I don't doubt for a second that he cares for our troops. But, every time he opens his mouth, I'm less and less convinced that he realizes how dangerous his off the cuff words would imperil our men and women in harm's way, and our national security, if he said them as President.

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Comments

[MarkFinelli]

Captain Soltz,

Read America's Secret War by Dr. George Friedman. You are severely wrong about many things, and it is not your fault.

CPL Mark Finelli, USMC, inactive
Sole WTC 9.11 Survivor to Enlist in the Marines and fight in Iraq.

[Spookcatcher]

McCain's service to the country needs to looked at without the blinders on any longer. He has carried the War mongers lobbyists agenda all of his adult life. He survived as a POW because of Dad was an Admiral. What Mcain did as a propaganda broadcasting asset for the VC until his release is closely guarded because it so contraversial. When he got into the Senate he carried water as a facilitator that lead to Charles Keating and the Keating Five. Yes, he still (even just last week) tries to ward off exposure in that involvement, by saying it was his biggest mistake, yet he certainly didn't learn anything for us because he hasn't done anything to protect us from the Bank problems and fraud that is rippling through every street in America as we speak. I would probably have at least went to prison, had to resign, or lost my next election, because I would not have had the Bush family and MIC behind me to protect my image. For McCain to be considered a change agent is ridiculous. Being a "War Hero" is not a lifetime pass to be a politician above reproach. In fact, he was a dangerous pilot that never should have been that either, crashing at least 5 planes! Again priviledge prevailed over our taxdollars or the safety of other service personnel. (remind you of anyone) We need to get rid of all the water carriers and spooks acting as Politicians and "leaders" when they have sold America out to Big Interests anf Fascists long before we ever heard of them. To keep them in office all this time is killings us, literally, all around the world, and millions of other Nations Peoples also!. McCain shouldn't even be in the Senate after his last Bush saving record, especially if you believe the rheoric of his lessons from VietNam. But that is why he needs the new electorate to make the long overdue changes and boot out all of these establishment assets.

[Quick2822]

The thing with McCain is that people are afraid to question or attack his military views because of his prior service to the country and what he went through.

We all respect and thank him for his efforts and service to this country. I can't even pretend to understand what it could have been like in a POW camp. My hat off to you McCain.

But, beyond that, he is a warmonger. He claims to speak for the troops, but doesn't. He claims that the surge in Iraq is working, but 2007 was the worst year since the start of this illegal war.

It's time for McCain to go away.

[V4Vigilance]

Add a ball gag to the list of things John McCain needs, right after straight jacket and small padded room.

[hopeless277]

I really hate to say it, Jon, but the only way our troops are going to get out of Iraq is if they are driven out by Iraqis. No one currently running for president has the power to overrule the MIC in this country. Should they try, they will find themselves attacked from all sides. Including their own. As evidenced by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, the democrat leadership has no intention of stopping the gravey train. They say they do but then fail to act. So to my eternal saddness, hundreds if not thousands more Americans will die in Iraq before they are finally beaten back into Kuwait. If this fails to happen it will be because our troops will have had to kill tens of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children. We are currently the most barbaric country on Earth, Jon, and we will destroy whatever we can just to make sure no one else can have it either. I am ashamed to be an American.

[demockracy]

The amazing thing about McCain is that, although the Vietnamese couldn't get him to break with physical torture, W got a hug even after a little political torture (That is: Karl Rove's push polling in South Carolina to give voters the idea McCain fathered an illegitimate black child. The truth: he's adopted an Ethiopian orphan).

Remember, McCain let others leave the Vietnamese prison ahead of him because they were sicker.

If U.S. politics can break a really courageous guy like McCain, when even Vietnamese waterboarding can't... well, how can we really expect good governance?

[deminmo]

Is McCain saying what he thinks or what he has
heard as policy? That would make it even scarier. According to Bush, there is no
timetable.