John McCain – Continuously and 'Critically' Wrong on Iraq

As was Election 2006, Election 2008 will provide voters an opportunity to voice their opinions of their elected official's actions with regards to Iraq. Presidential candidates with a record of votes or statements on Iraq will face the glare of a harsh spotlight indeed. My guess is that the bloodbath of 2006 will be nothing compared to the anger of voters at the 2008 Republican Presidential nominee since by this time nothing will be able to hide the fact that the GOP Iraq war has failed. Senator McCain is one of those Republicans who will have a lot of explaining to do regarding Iraq. Touted as a maverick, McCain nonetheless went along with neocon and Bush administrations push for the war and then continued to support Bush in "Staying the Course". From Sourcewatch, http://www.sourcewatch.org comes an interesting compendium of McCain quotes on Iraq: Â" On March 23, 2003, on MSNBC's Meet the Press McCain predicted, "I believe that this conflict is still going to be relatively short." Â" On June 4, 2004, in a CNN interview, McCain said, "The terrorists know that this is a very critical time." Â" On December 8, 2005, McCain said, "Overall, I think a year from now, we will have a fair amount of progress [in Iraq] if we stay the course." When confronted by Tim Russert on Meet the Press on November 12, 2006, McCain admitted that that has "proven not to be correct." Â" On August 20, 2006, back on MSNBC's Meet The Press, McCain was asked, "You agree this is a critical moment in Iraq?" He replied, "I agree it's a critical time, yes." Â" On October 19, 2006, on a CBS' Evening News interview with Katie Couric, McCain said, "I think that, first of all, things are very serious there. And to say otherwise I don't think would be an accurate depiction of events, and this is a very critical time." Â" On November 12, 2006, in another Meet the Press interview, McCain said it was a "critical time" in Iraq and that "we're either going to lose this thing or win this thing within the next several months." For the last two and a half years, Senator John McCain has been saying that 'Now is a "Critical" time in Iraq with the implied suggestion that we should not change tactics since the time is so "critical". If there is a correlation between Iraq and the Vietnam conflict, it is that in the middle to the end of both conflicts, various politicians, talking heads and others all seemed to continuously say "Just wait, now is a 'critical' time. If you just let us continue for a few more months, things will get better, you will see". Some people are STILL saying that if we had just stayed the course in Vietnam a little longer, or committed more troops, or some combination of the two, we would have won. Haven't those who we entrust with legislative and executive powers of our government yet learned the lessons of situations like these? Why hasn't someone like Senator McCain learned these lessons yet? What does John McCain expect will happen in Iraq in the next few months that will be worth several thousand Iraqis and dozens of American soldiers dying there each month? It is getting more and more difficult for American troops to keep order in the few places where they still are in control. How are they supposed to make progress in that sort of environment? McCain does not get that there was never a chance in Iraq. The Bush administration, backed by Republicans like McCain, lied the country into the conflict. They lied about Iraq seeking uranium from Africa, they lied about all sorts of Weapons of Mass Destruction programs. Then, based on these lies and with disregard for the predicitons of many that it would degenerate into sectarian violence and civil war, the administration and congressional Republicans invaded Iraq. The American people are demanding accountability on Iraq and no one will escape scrutiny for their actions therefrom. McCain's failure to talk straight with the American people and conceive the best course of action then and now with regards to Iraq will be regarded by the country as disqualifying him for President in 2008, as well it should. McCain and the rest of the GOP are responsible for Iraq and they bear the responsibility for its failures.