McCain: "Troops in Iraq for 100 years is fine with me"
The United States military could stay in Iraq for "maybe a hundred years" and that "would be fine with me," John McCain told two hundred or so people at a town hall meeting in Derry, New Hampshire, on Thursday evening. Toward the end of this session, which was being held shortly before the Iowa caucuses were to start, McCain was confronted by Dave Tiffany, who calls himself a "full-time antiwar activist." In a heated exchange, Tiffany told McCain that he had looked at McCain's campaign website and had found no indication of how long McCain was willing to keep U.S. troops in Iraq. Arguing that George W. Bush's escalation of troops has led to a decline in U.S. casualties, McCain noted that the United States still maintains troops in South Korea and Japan. He said he had no objection to U.S. soldiers staying in Iraq for decades, "as long as Americans are not being injured, harmed or killed."
After the event ended, I asked McCain about his "hundred years" comment, and he reaffirmed the remark, excitedly declaring that U.S. troops could be in Iraq for "a thousand years" or "a million years," as far as he was concerned. The key matter, he explained, was whether they were being killed or not: "It's not American presence; it's American casualties." U.S. troops, he continued, are stationed in South Korea, Japan, Europe, Bosnia, and elsewhere as part of a "generally accepted policy of America's multilateralism." There's nothing wrong with Iraq being part of that policy, providing the government in Baghdad does not object.
In other words, McCain does not equate victory in Iraq--which he passionately urges at campaign events--with the removal of U.S. troops from that nation. After McCain told Tiffany that he could see troops remaining in Iraq for a hundred years, a reporter sitting next to me quipped, "There's the general election campaign ad." He meant the Democratic ad: John McCain thinks it would be okay if U.S. troops stayed in Iraq for another hundred years.....
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/01/6735_mc...
Captain Ahab
I will not support John McCain because he is Captain Ahab. He will not quit something until he wins, no matter what the cost. His comments on Iraq just prove that point further.
To this day he blames the anti-war movement for us "losing" the war in Vietnam. I don't see how anyone, looking at the way things turned out with Vietnam cannot admit that it was a bad war to get into. How can we expect rational, level-minded decisions from someone so intent on winning that they forget the big picture?
Every debate he says that the job of the president is to "make this country safe." Uh, no. The job is to protect liberty and obey the constitution. If you want to make people safe, go join the army again or work as a policeman. Stay out of politics.
I can't imagine the Orwellian world John McCain would bestow upon us with these views.
South Vietnam was holding off the NVA until we pulled the plug
The theory goes that, because we stopped funding the South Vietnamese in 1974 (after the US troops were all gone except the MIAs), the NVA was able to attack and conquer the south.
Ron Paul would note that South Vietnam should have been able to be financially self sufficient by then and propping them up with foreign aid was articifical and wrong in the long run.
But it is logical that it looked like "pulling the plug betrayed our allies". There was a huge boat people exodus when the commies attacked and hundreds of thousands were executed or murdered.
Many modern Republican American males practically define the Democrats as the people who "sold the South Vietnamese down the drain".
This is why McCain is polling as the frontrunner in NH. Don't blame me for being the messenger. The people polling for him are also unlikely to be convinced in the next 4 days that they are wrong about their opinion on Vietnam (which means we can only destroy McCain's lead by talking about McCain's recent socialist lawmaking in the Senate and not the current war).
Going back 10 years earlier to 1965, there probably would have been a Thai War if the US hadn't taken a stand in Vietnam when the communists made their cruel attack in the spring of 65 on South Vietnam.
Mao and the Soviets were backing this aggression. But Mao died in 1969 and the war could have ended around then.
As in Iraq since 2005, the military industrial complex didn't want to end the war when it could have ended.
I differ from a lot of Paulites in that I only have a problem with permawar: special interests that want to prolong wars for profit.
Orwell did support the 1965-69 portion of the Vietnam War by the way. He died of cancer while being very upset that the anti-war people were hijacking his concepts to condemn the war.
This why the Republican Party
Will lose if Dr. Paul is not the Candidate. Indep. will not support that policy (in great numbers) and many Republicans don't. (like myself).
www.votejasonthompson.us
www.votejasonthompson.us
40% of NH Independents Will Still Play in the GOP Primary
And McCain just pissed practically all of them away. The NH Independents are the most anti-war group in the state. Ron just may have just gotten in a 3 way tie for first in NH, because McCain is such an idiot.
This comment just cost McCain 10 points and Romney dropped 10 after last night. It always amazes me that politicians can be this undisciplined.
This McCain comment needs to go viral. Also, if we can get the media to keep asking McCain about the comment, he could blow up with that legendary temper of his.
El Dorado
Bump
Bump..... This is why he won't win, he dosent get it. We don't want to be there, they dont want us there.
Do not give into evil, but proceed ever more boldly against it.
Or that we should be part of the ICC
He's truly a new world order lackey.
not only a sellout
but evidently clueless. Hothead McCain just handed the election to the Dems on a silver platter. Only the similarly clueless would vote for this guy.
don't fall for the bait. McCain is weak on rights in the Senate
McCain wants RP to discuss foreign policy in NH. RP should shock him by asking why he votes for every Internet Regulation law possible.
The 100 years comment is a trap. Most guys like me were fine with the 45 year occupation of Germay. RP needs to ignore that comment and go for the jugular on Internet regulation.
Germany?
I'm a soldier currently in Afghanistan. My "permanent duty station" is in Germany with the 173rd Airborne. I love being in Germany as a tourist. But as a soldier, I hate it. I feel that its bad for our foreign policy. The Germans I talk to hate Bush. They don't like our foreign policy. The German police hate American soldiers because they act like hooligans on the weekends by getting into drunkin fist fights and destroying public property.
There has been talk about moving troops out of Germany. My battallion will be moving to Italy (The Italians really don't like US Soldiers, but they like our money). The Germans don't want us to leave either because they like our money. Military bases create jobs for Europeans. Soldiers buy their BMWs, Benzs, SAABs, and Audis. Soldiers drink a lot so the bars like our money too (they just don't like our fist fights, lol).
Like everything with the military industrial complex, its all about money. Money is the only reason we fight. Humantarianism and terrorism isn't the real reason, its just the excuse.
45 Years is okay?
Ron Paul is right....McCain is an ass....We are looking more and more like an imperial power and we wonder why everybody hates us....
Ron Paul'08
USSR Redux
I met a Russian immigrant a few weeks ago, who left the USSR in the late 80's. We spoke of politics, and he knows who Ron Paul is, but confessed to me that "The Americans just don''t get it".
I asked him questions about the fall of the USSR empire, and the stories he told were sobering. People who were millionaires were worth nothing in a week. Anyone that had any bank accounts were wiped out.
He told me that thousands of soldiers came home from Eastern Europe, with nothing, and immediately joined the Russian Mafia.
It's going to happen here, and this idea that we have the luxury to spend trillions on putting soldiers "where ever we want" for the betterment of the world is going to destroy us.
He said something not forgotten: Americans have no experience with this, so they think they know. They don't.
America is sick, call a doctor! Dr. Ron Paul.
Front page.
This should be put on the front page. So all visitors can see it. Adjoined with Ron Pauls view. 100 years. McCain is a MORON..
www.ronpaul2008.com
There is life at the end of the tunnel my friends!
***********Ron Paul for POTUS 2012***********
*************Obama Is A Communist!************
**********Repeal the 17th Amendment**********
Double the size of the House of Representatives
$$$$$$$$$AUDIT THE FEDERAL RESERVE$$$$$$$$$$
That's a black and white comparison we could really use
That's an amazing statement.
I think that needs to be brought up as a big policy difference. I just don't think that many people really want us to be there forever.
I really don't think many people really know how big our empire is and how much it costs us to keep our troops in 130 countries around the world.
On the war, I completely DISAGREE with McCain
We have no right to be in Iraq. We all know why we're there: oil. If you don't you're fooling yourself.
As for the other countries, I have a less idealistic opinion than Paul does: if the country wants to foot the bill 100% of our military in their country then fine. Otherwise, we go home.
But in the end Ron Paul is correct, we are a republic and not an empire. We shouldn't have a military presence in 130+ countries
Men who don't know their personal rights are gone will fight you
The problem is, men who have no idea that their rights are being taken away by McCain in the Senate (McCain votes for everything that the NOW suggests might "protect women from men") will fight what they see as anti-war moonbats every step of the way.
Why directly fight someone when you can win them over in 3 seconds with another argument?
Sure, it might be intellectually stimulating to argue about the Iraq War, but the goal is to put Ron Paul in the White House.
The US did not win the German Nazis over to a liberal viewpoint in the end. The US, via the Berlin Airlift, showed the Nazis that Americans would join them in fighting commies.
Tell Republican males that McCain is a sellout to left wing socialists in the Senate. Show the video of Romney hugging Ted Kennedy.
Ron Paul can crush the front-runners in NH by exposing them as liberals.
I completely agree with McCain on that
On the war, I completely agree with McCain.
But McCain is a criminal who pushes every Internet regulation law possible in the Senate.
He was the backer of the Save Our Children from Online Exploitation Act which has been spiked (for now). This law would have made it illegal for the DP webmaster to allow any of us to post without running our email through the National Sex Offender Registry first.
McCain must be stopped...but he will win on the war issue every time, with the majority of NH Republicans, if he is ALLOWED TO SHAPE THE DEBATE to be on foreign policy which is his only strength to most Republican males. His sitting in a prison camp in Vietnam gives him incredible gravitas there, whether deserved or not.
Remember: Even the FReepers at FreeRepublic.com hate McCain for being a left wing socialist on all issues not relating to foreign policy. He is a sellout to the radical feminists for Heaven's sake. That is what should be talked about in NH.
He wouldn't have made the 100 years comment if he (and I) were not sure of this. I served in Germany during the occupation of Germany that lasted 45 years. I believe world history was better because of the 45 year occupation of Germany.
Remember: NH Independents will be helping Obama crush Hillary and I do not blame them for doing that.
Ron Paul needs to win in NH without the help of the Independents.
This means concentrating on Internet Regulation and other horrifying rights grabs at home. I suggest that we not concentrate on rights grabs that were meant to stop "terrorists" so much as rights grabs that were meant to stop "males" whom people like McCain view as sex offenders until proven otherwise.
McCain really despises young single males. He wants them regulated, especially in terms of being allowed to communicate with others on the Internet. Yes, this includes the soldiers he supposedly honors.
If I were running the campaign, I would have 90% of the military calling for his arrest as a traitor to men's rights.
What you fail to understand
What you fail to understand is that it doesn't matter if something is a good idea, or if it will work, or if 99% of the public is behind it. What matters is whether it is constitutional or not.
You are dead wrong on foreign policy. Pick up a book on the history of ancient Rome. They went from the Roman Kingdom (oppressive monarchy) to the Roman Republic (relatively representative government, freedom and prosperity) to the Roman Empire (imperial dictatorship, spread thin all over the known world). Full circle. American history mirrors Roman history quite well. We are now at the Julius Caesar stage (fall of the republic, rise of the empire), but you war hawks can't see it. The dark humor in all of this is that it isn't necessary. None of it. It is literally nothing more than a case of extreme boredom. Government has a massive pile of gold and a sandbox full of toys, and it wants to play with them. What we the people need to do, as sovereign leaders of a servant government, is tell baby that playtime is over -- and spank baby if necessary.
Please read the following discourse between a Marine in favor of war, and a member of AntiWar.com. I think you may find it enlightening: http://antiwar.com/blog/2007/12/26/arguing-the-war/
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The opposite of freedom is slavery; if I am 99% free, then I am part slave, which is like being "a little bit pregnant." Freedom versus slavery is a zero-sum game.
And people actually vote for this guy?
I'm not into bashing others but this guy is a total sellout! It's really a shame...
Mike
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Mike
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