More

Stephen C. Rose

Stephen C. Rose

Posted: August 4, 2008 01:32 PM

McCain After 9/11: Wrong About Everything


This recently posted video of John McCain on the Letterman Show 18 October 2001, roughly a month after 9/11, suggests McCain knew about the Bush plan to take on Iraq. In addition to his cracks about killing Bin Laden by Halloween and intimidating "these people into going back to selling camels," he also floats the line that the anthrax used in the U.S. mail attacks "may have come from Iraq" and says the Bush administration was determined to hold the countries from which the terrorists came responsible. In retrospect, it's clear that McCain, our experience candidate, got pretty much everything wrong and was selling Bush's disastrous foreign policy, as he still is today. Bin Laden is not only alive but wandering about his Waziristan redoubt. We are losing more lives in Afghanistan than we are in Iraq. We never held Saudi Arabia responsible for anything. Watch the video below and see if you wish John McCain to guide the fate of the U.S. for the next four or eight years.


LETTERMAN: How are things going in Afghanistan now?


MCCAIN: I think we're doing fine .... I think we'll do fine. The second phase -- if I could just make one, very quickly -- the second phase is Iraq. There is some indication, and I don't have the conclusions, but some of this anthrax may -- and I emphasize may -- have come from Iraq.

LETTERMAN: Oh is that right?

MCCAIN: If that should be the case, that's when some tough decisions are gonna have to be made.

This recently posted video of John McCain on the Letterman Show 18 October 2001, roughly a month after 9/11, suggests McCain knew about the Bush plan to take on Iraq. In addition to his cracks about k...
This recently posted video of John McCain on the Letterman Show 18 October 2001, roughly a month after 9/11, suggests McCain knew about the Bush plan to take on Iraq. In addition to his cracks about k...
 
 
  • Comments
  • 34
  • Pending Comments
  • 0
  • View FAQ
Comments are closed for this entry
View All
Bloggers
Recency  | 
Popularity
Page: 1 2  Next ›  Last »  (2 total)
01:20 AM on 08/10/2008
"...he also floats the line that the anthrax used in the U.S. mail attacks "may have come from Iraq" and says the Bush administration was determined to hold the countries from which the terrorists came responsible."
Will McCain advocate bombing the US because the antrax came from a government facility? I'm sure he would never consider that Iran might not be responsible for anything untoward that happened in it's locallity, so he ought to hold America to the same standards.
... bomb, bomb, bomb ... bomb -- America?
10:10 AM on 08/07/2008
I’m sorry to interject here.
Total Coalition casualties for Afghanistan is under a thousand, counts for Iraq is five times as high. Do you mean that this month the casualties are higher in Afghanistan or perhaps that the ratio is higher in Afghanistan? I’m just seeking clarification.
photo
HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
Pupadup4oBama
10:55 AM on 08/06/2008
"people are more friendly when they know you are the most powerful kid on the block"

In other words - being a bully helps in getting what you want from the other kids - ruling by intimidation and fear.

Wow, these guys were just ITCHING to go in Iraq.
photo
HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Stephen C. Rose
Fulltime writer, blogger, thinker, activist.
11:57 AM on 08/06/2008
This piece seems to have been bumped off the OTB main page but I believe it is the key to the biggest news story out there. I have added an addendum on my own blog.

Was The Maverick Misled About Iraq?

This advances the questions one of our citizen journalists could ask McCain -- and I predict it would lead to a huge scoop.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
eden4barack08
Watch out! He carries a big stick!
09:05 AM on 08/06/2008
Anymore hawkish than that and we'd all be dead. He even knew at that time that the coalition would be strained if and when, which obviously was a definite when, we invaded Iraq.

Who are these people that are seriously considering to put this man in charge? Can we get them some treatments?
Viper
Former repub, still repenting
05:41 PM on 08/05/2008
The McCain Campaign Pledge

More War, Less jobs. and More of the Same.

Regards
05:05 PM on 08/05/2008
9/11, Afghanistan, Anthrax, Iraq, Iran.....all of these were predetermined to bring a new world order. I am at a loss here that some of my fellow Americans just don't open their eyes, don't want to hear, or perhaps just being duped by these war criminals.........

American Revolutionaries, where are you???????????????
HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
truthynesslover
01:34 AM on 08/06/2008
There in the armed forces being slaughtered and maimed in trumped up wars!
10:36 AM on 08/07/2008
I hate to say this, but you may be more right then you realize. Please consider that no revolution has much of a chance for success unless it comes from the ranks of the military itself. It’s one of those interesting predictions from the 40’s and 50’s by progressive political writers that makes me so interested to see the increased political involvement of retired generals for the first time (A key point), and that as larger and larger government programs came into place, older projects would be loss; until eventually the nation stopped paying veteran benefits, then the revolution would come. It seems far fetched to think that this nation will ever stop caring for its veterans, at least at the level of the general populous; but I do wonder at the mishandling of the government and its funds. If Social Security is already on its way out, how far behind can more critical cut backs or failures be? The revolution scenarios are always chilling to think upon. What WOULD it take to push America that far? Who would stand up, how effective could they be, and what changes would it bring about for the entire world?
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
eden4barack08
Watch out! He carries a big stick!
09:08 AM on 08/06/2008
That's why his "bomb bomb Iran" joke is no joke. I just can't believe that sane people are actually ready to give this scary man a chance to lead our country!
05:13 PM on 08/06/2008
"sane" people voted for Bush twice!
03:35 PM on 08/05/2008
McCain was wrong, is wrong now, and will continue to be wrong in the future.

And all the Fudge Haus, Sturgis, or cheese aisle moments in the world aren't going to change it.
01:05 PM on 08/05/2008
LIes, lies and more lies. These people just lie and lie and lie. It must be stressful, living a lie like they do. I don't know how they do it. Lying, and the intended result is, lots of innocent people get killed. That's really it. These people are liars and murderers.
photo
BlueOnBlue
275 Republicans Voted to Kill Medicare
01:04 PM on 08/05/2008
Slowly, slowly, people are starting to discover how far back McCain was for a war with Iraq. In truth, he was for that well before Bush even took office, having helped support the liar Ahmed Chalabi as he agitated for the "liberation" of Iraq.

Keep it up and soon you'll discover that McCain wasn't for Bush's war. It was the other way around. McCain was one of the original warmongers and Bush came on board after 9/11.

Look it up.
photo
Opinionater
Romani ite domum
11:32 AM on 08/05/2008
"Nothing succeeds like success" McCain

Prophetic words, nothing succeeded in catching OBL.

Thanks for nothing, Mr McCain.
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
photo
11:24 AM on 08/05/2008
The way he brings up Iraq is very disturbing. It did not flow from the conversation. It was almost as if he had a list of talking points and was worried that he wouldn't get a chance to make the plug before his time was up. I am really wondering whose talking points they were. McCain wants everyone to concentrate on "the surge" but I think the Obama campaign needs to focus not just on the surge but on his active role in beating the drumbeat to war in Iraq. Unlike many who voted to authorize force as a way to pressure Saddam, McCain seems to have been on the bandwagon to wage war in Iraq from the early weeks after 9/11. The "facts on the ground" be damned!
photo
HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Stephen C. Rose
Fulltime writer, blogger, thinker, activist.
06:27 AM on 08/05/2008
Thanks for these comments. I think the most important objective should be to have reporters who travel with or meet McCain on the road raise the question of what he knew in the five weeks after 9/11, particularly on the anthrax front. McCain has a habit of reacting from the hip and I suspect he would say he knew nothing. Perhaps not. The point is we don't know. Clearly the attitude in the video is neocon to the core.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
freedomsxm
11:50 AM on 08/05/2008
What happened to killing Bin Laden by Halloween and intimidating "these people into going back to selling camels? McCain said that seven years ago on this stupid tape with David Letterman. Recently he again says he will get Bin Laden after he's President? Last I heard the only ones get killed are our troops.
12:47 PM on 08/05/2008
McCain's comments were the height of hubris and are proof that McCain is far from executive leadership quality.

McCain's other national security plan for dealing with terrorist and catching bin Laden.
"I know how to deal with terrorists who attacked us on 9/11- I'll catch bin Laden, I know how to catch bin Laden, I'll hunt him to the gates of hell."

No one ever calls McCain on this kind of mindless blather. McCain's buddies in the main stream media just stand by and say oh that's some tough talk, oh what a tough guy McCain and is; this type of rhetoric is pathetic and worthless as national security policy.

Reporters should be calling McCain out for explaing how he would catch bin Laden and ask McCain if he has shared his plan with our national security agencies and the CIA. If not isn't it quite unpatriotic to have a failed safe plan to catch bin Laden but not have it implemented.

McCain is addlepated.
07:30 PM on 08/04/2008
This guy has been wrong on so many issues it's sad. He truly will be 4 more years of the disastrous Bush Administration. And his honor is now in question due to his promising of a 'respectful campaign on the issues' flip-flop.

The people who put Bush in the White House twice were wrong and their judgement should be questioned. Let's not let them make a third mistake at our expense.
05:49 PM on 08/04/2008
How long will it take the MSM to start playing the Letterman clip? the same way they grabbed onto the Reverend Wright clip? after all, both are available on Youtube. And I ask you to compare both.

Although some may not agree with Reverend Wright, especially the "God Damn America", his sermon had to do with our foreign policies.

Then you have McCain telling the world "the next phase is Iraq" and saying "the anthrax may have come from Iraq". Since 9/11 we have learned through several investigations that Iraq had absolutely NOTHING to do with 9/11 and the anthrax was sent from within the United States from one of the most secure facilities in our country. So who is the most dangerous? a preacher that speaks about our foreign policies that have often resulted in consequences, or a presidential candidate touting LIES that have resulted in over 4,000 American deaths in a war that was completely unnecessary, not to mention the countless deaths of Iraqis who we still do not have a confirmed number of exactly how many have died during the invasion and occupation. And did I mention "bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran"......

Enough said.
photo
HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Stephen C. Rose
Fulltime writer, blogger, thinker, activist.
11:54 AM on 08/05/2008
Following up. The link below indicates this story hit the LA Times last Friday.

Anthrax Scare
photo
HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Stephen C. Rose
Fulltime writer, blogger, thinker, activist.
05:31 PM on 08/04/2008
The election will depend on how many DO get it.
HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
truthynesslover
01:40 AM on 08/06/2008
It makes one woder what they have planned.What was the firing of those attorney generals all about?How many well placed operatives are still in the justice department?