McCain the Cold Warrior
John McCain, the so-called "national security candidate" was caught off-guard during his recent press conference when Sen. Lieberman had to intervene to correct his repeated assertion that Shiite Iran was somehow involved in training sunni al-Qaeda operatives. We all make mistakes, and he is 71, after all. But this is not the first time he's made that false connection. Combined with his aggressive rhetoric toward Iran, you have to wonder whether he has a secret hope that Iran is the source of all our troubles. It would be so easy if the McCain theme song "bomb, bomb Iran" (sung to the tune of "Barbara Ann") were actually the right strategy.
The problem is that we're in a new kind of fight in this new century. And this is where McCain, for all of his past national service and experience, is left ill-prepared to make the pivot necessary to protect Americans from the most clear and present dangers. Keeping Americans safe today requires a fundamental rethinking of the nature of today's threats and the means to combat them.
Iran is a real problem, to be sure, but the solution is not bombing. It is collaborating with the likes of Russia and China. Without pressure from these two pivotal powers, Russia, Tehran's arms supplier and China, Tehran's biggest oil customer, Iran will never give up its nuclear ambitions. Even the Bush adminstration gets this and working with Russia and China, came up with a new package of UN sanctions against Iran a few weeks ago.
McCain does not seem to realize that these once communist aggressors are now our partners, for better or worse. He did spend his entire adolescence, young adulthood and a good chunk of his adult life in the all-consuming, head to head pitched battle of the Cold War. When the Soviet Union collapsed, he was already 55 years old. McCain likes to say, "When I look into Putin's eyes, I see only three things -- a K, a G and a B." That says it all.
What he should see is the man the next president needs to deal with to keep Americans safe. Iran is just one example. Russia is also home to some 600 metric tons tons of inadequately secured bomb-ready nuclear material -- enough for tens of thousands of nuclear weapons. If we want to prevent the single most plausible and catastrophic threat to Americans-a terrorist attack on America with a nuclear device -- we have to work hand in hand with Russia. Senator Obama knows this well. Last year, he joined Senator Dick Lugar in passing a law to stop proliferation from nuclear stockpiles throughout the former Soviet Union.
Big states like Russia and China and India are also the key to the impending climate crisis that will exacerbate many of our national security challenges. Senator Clinton understands this and makes the point in her speeches that America has to change its own behavior before it can preach to still developing economies about their carbon excesses.
Obama and Clinton have turned the page from the Cold War and are well-focused on our new challenges. They don't shy away from articulating our differences with Russia and china, but they also leave room for the collaboration that will keep Americans safe.
Age for its own sake should not matter in this presidential contest. But when old age means an old mindset, it has to.
The views expressed here are those of the authors alone.
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"Old soldiers never die, they just fade away." I see McCain as entering that "fade away" phase.
John McCain=King Tut
I am not sure exactly what happened to McCain during his 5 years as a prisoner at the Hanoi Hilton but he definitely seems psychologically unbalanced.
I realize he was pretty much an advocate for war before he got shot down over Vietnam but his singing of the Beach Boys song Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Iran is very telling.
He appears to be a dangerous warmonger who has no interest in diplomacy except maybe bully diplomacy where countries do exactly what America demands or face the wrath of our Shock and Awe.
Either McCain is a senile old man who does not know right from wrong or the difference between the Sunni and Shia or he is the most vicious, conniving, ruthless barbarian America has ever produced, since G. W. Bush.
This is just what America needs, another 8 years of going backwards into the Stone Age, a treacherous bigoted advocate of war occupying the white house, a foreign policy that terrorizes the world and domestic policies that favor a small portion of our population.
Obama, America and the World are awaiting your sane reasoned leadership.
The operational connection between Al Qaida and Iran is very well documented and was made in tne 9/11 Commission Report; and by German and Italian authorities who uncovered a Eurpoean terrorist network headed by Al Qaiad's Al Zarqawi. Cell phone intercepts prove that Zarqawi ran this network from Tehran.
The real gaffe of the day was made by Obama who denied any connection between Sunni and Shite terrorists when the mullahs have replaced Saddam Hussein as the major funding source for Hamas-a vicious Sunni terrorist group. Obama's naivity on this matter shows how ill equipped he is to be commander in chief.
...and the 9/11 terrorists learned to fly (but not land) the planes in phoenix, arizona.
connect the dots,. mccain's home state.
is mccain a part of the terrorist plot?
reagan's mother in law lived in phoenix. he visited often.
bush had burritos at the teepee tap room in phoenix.
how wide spread is this thing?
but you do make one point,, obliquely--that the presence of an invading force may unite temporarily the factions that have essentially no common interests.
watch lawrence of arabia--rent it at blockbuste
d
I say lets assume everyone is in league with Al Qaida and treat them according and see how long it takes for everyone to be in league with Al Qaida. An essentially nationalist movement in Vietnam was driven to ally itself with China and Russia because we insisted on interpreting it in that light and using the cold war rhetoric to justify a commercially motivated war.
"Without pressure from these two pivotal powers, Russia, Tehran's arms supplier and China, Tehran's biggest oil customer, Iran will never give up its nuclear ambitions.
How right you are. But the pressure from Russia and China (and the rest of the civilized world) has to also be directed against the United States, because, unless we curb our insane belligerence, Iran will never stop hoping and seeking for a "magic bullet" to ward off our misguided attack.
Suggested Lyrics for McCon's "Bomb Bomb Iran" campaign song, by "The Impeach Boys":
Way to old to dance
Don't know Finance
I'm gonna change the subject-
It's my campaign's last chance:
I'll bomb Iran, bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran
I'll bomb Iran, bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran
There'll be Bombing and Baptizing
More Democratizing
In Iran, Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran
Bid Saddam adieu
Killed some commies too
Ahmadinejad
I'm a coming after you!
I'll bomb Iran, bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran
I'll bomb Iran, bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran
There'll be Bombing and Baptizing
More Democratizing
In Iran, Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran
Commander Guy McCon
Is marching to Tehran
Their Mullahs will be chanting, "Long Live St. John"
He Bombed Iran Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bombed Iran
He Bombed Iran Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bombed Iran
He came a Bombing and Baptizing
True Democratizing
In Iran, Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran
All the slamming and character assassination won't get you elected. All that is left is the laughing. The past week has shown how both dems can't handled pressure or the poll numbers. Clinton is in panic mode trying to get delegets and seats any way possible. Obama is showing his true color when he can' t explain simply why he spent 20 years at a church that he knew had radical ideas.
What exactly has Hillary or Obama accomplished that makes them ready to run this country. Having a large list of things you didn't do, doesn't cut it.
On the list of things Obama did do : He Lied is Butt Off and didn't break a step
as for HRC she's been caught in way too many lies, her win at all cost tactics are going to be her downfall.
Its going to be hard to turn this around, the contest is over and McCain won, regroup and maybe they'll be ready in 4 years.
It's the "radical ideas" that gives you away. Racist slang for "blacks who think for themselves and scare me."
You can go away now.
McCain, Obama, Clinton, do not and will never have the Letters " G O D written across their foreheads, when they claim they will protect this nation.
There obligation was and is to " PROTECT, DEFEND, PRESERVE" the United States Constitution, which to date none of them have done. There statements is what's called " PROPAGANDA". Folks need to be reminded the Constitution does not require the Government to protect its citizens.
Newsflash. McCain took the lead in the polls.
http://www
Pres McCain... nice try liberals!
If McCaiin is so smart, how did he manage to get shot down over Vietnam? How does a screwup translate into heroisim? This boggles my mind. He is under the illusion that the Vietnamese war could have been won. His brain was fried in captivity. What an idiot.
I'll skip over some of your earlier assertions. but am I the only one that is getting the feeling,
that McCain is still fighting the Viet Nam War, and feels that if weren't for popular opinion and
press dissent, that the war could have been won? To quote Bugs Bunny, "What a Maroon."
Bravo! Indeed he is. And the Cold War. And maybe World Wars I and II as well. He obviously doesn't know who our enemies are from recent statements (or he's trying to create a new book of lies for a new war).
Problem is, Hillary, if elected, would still be fighting the Vietnam War too, the cultural/political War at Home of that war. That's why she is too polarizing a candidate, too likely to bring up the most kneejerk of Republican conservative reactions. If she miraculously managed to get elected, her entire Presidency would be mired by vicious and unending Republican backlash. Couple that with the kind of infighting her own staff would be engaged in (if her campaign is any example) and we'd have another disaster.
Obama, on the other hand, while at the tailend of the Boomer generation, is not of the Boomer generation. He does not have the albatross of Vietnam around his neck. He can make his own decisions and find consensus means to achieve his goals. Hillary cannot. His speech this week showed us all what an extraordinary man he is and what a powerful leader he will be for this nation.
Though noble, for the attempted furtherance of the goals of the United States at the time, I find that spending five years locked up in the jungle does absolutely nothing to give anybody the wealth of experience (training) necessary to be an intelligent and wise leader of the free world. Also, being one of the oldest campaigners is a huge negative.
Yes, his "heroisim" is my point, if getting your sorry butt busted is a hero, I think I don't understand english. And wait we have more heros in making, what about Jessica Lynch, Soshanna Jonson or maybe even Lyndi England ??? Heros my a...:)
Bravo! I met these two smart women at their book-signing. Their ideas underscore that we need new leadership that understands the world the way it is becoming, and not stuck on old policies that do not take into consideration the emerging super powers of the world.
Dear Ms. Hachigian and Ms. Sutphen:
I beg to differ with your assessment that ..." impending climate crisis that will exacerbate many of our national security challenges. Senator Clinton understands this and makes the point in her speeches that America has to change its own behavior before it can preach to still developing economies about their carbon excesses. "
Sen. Clinton talks a good game, while she and her husband and daughter have extensive financial holdings in mining, petrochemical production and international development projects hat are countermand the purported "green message," that Sen. Clinton espouses. In addition former President Clinton receives a hefty 10 million dollars a year for sitting on the board of directors of one of the middle-east's largest contributor’s of greenhouse gas emission. It is public record that, during Bill Clinton's tenure as president labor laws, and environmental regulations were eviscerated through administrative rule. Also, opportunities to strengthen the Kyoto protocols were squandered. Meanwhile the US engaged in brokering international trade agreements that effectively under cut worldwide labor, safety, health and environmental protections all for the good of corporate profit. It is highly disappointing that the two of you would laud Sen. Clinton's purported, "green message." A message that is highly suspect when considering the legislation that Sen. Clinton has voted YEA. Disappointing but, not surprising from RAND acolytes.
It takes more than just talking the talk. Sen. Clinton and her family must walk the walk if they are to be deemed creditable.
I suspect that McCain is given credit for having "foreign policy experience" because he was a P.O.W. during the Vietnam War. Sorry, but as unfortunate as that was for him (and all other P.O.W.'s), that experience in and of itself does NOT imbue him with a good understanding of foreign policy. Someone should have the guts to tell the MSM/Biased Conservative Media exactly that!
Wilbur
McCain would simply rely upon advisors he trusts. The trouble with that is they'd have to think like he does in order to be his advisors. Remember in the lobbyist story his aids had trouble keeping him out of trouble. As prez I really doubt anyone could corral him. Given his temperament, his age, and his war positions I see him as Bush on steroids.
When it comes to people who understand the security challenge, you would have to be crazy to put Hillary and Obama on the same side. Hillary and MCcain are warmongers who seek to perpetuate war and have never recognized diplomacy as a tool in the arsenal of international affairs while Obama sees it as extremely important. Obama is the democrat, Clinton and MCcain are Rethugs who feed on blood.
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