McCain’s Sugar Coated Iraq Delusion
by Pamela LeaveyJohn McCain has drank so deep from the Bush KoolAid that he’s truly become delusional from the massive sugar rush. In an OP/ED in today’s WaPo, McCain coats his vision of Iraq with his desperate bid to save his ‘08 presidential candidacy based on Bush’s war.
I just returned from my fifth visit to Iraq since 2003 — and my first since Gen. David Petraeus’s new strategy has started taking effect. For the first time, our delegation was able to drive, not use helicopters, from the airport to downtown Baghdad. For the first time, we met with Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar province who are working with American and Iraqi forces to combat al-Qaeda. For the first time, we visited Iraqi and American forces deployed in a joint security station in Baghdad — an integral part of the new strategy. We held a news conference to discuss what we saw: positive signs, underreported in the United States, that are reason for cautious optimism.
I observed that our delegation “stopped at a local market, where we spent well over an hour, shopping and talking with the local people, getting their views and ideas about different issues of the day.” Markets in Baghdad have faced devastating terrorist attacks. A car bombing at Shorja in February, for example, killed 137 people. Today the market still faces occasional sniper attacks, but it is safer than it used to be. One innovation of the new strategy is closing markets to vehicles, thereby precluding car bombs that kill so many and garner so much media attention. Petraeus understandably wanted us to see this development.
In typical right wing fashion, McCain utters the blame the media mantra, “they’re simply not reporting the goood news”…
The new political-military strategy is beginning to show results. But most Americans are not aware because much of the media are not reporting it or devote far more attention to car bombs and mortar attacks that reveal little about the strategic direction of the war. I am not saying that bad news should not be reported or that horrific terrorist attacks are not newsworthy. But news coverage should also include evidence of progress. Whether Americans choose to support or oppose our efforts in Iraq, I hope they could make their decision based on as complete a picture of the situation in Iraq as is possible to report.
Finally McCain ends with this, “This is not a moment for partisan gamesmanship or for one-sided reporting. The stakes are just too high.”
He’s right. The stakes are too high and they are too high because Bush’s Iraq policy isn’t working now, and it has never worked. That’s why the Republicans and hanger-oner’s to the Bush war need to stop playing partisan games and end the war in Iraq, based on Bush’s lies.
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I’ve broken down McCain’s op-ed bullet point by bullet point here. The man is totally off the rails.
I have absolutely no respect for Senator McCain. He is a pure political opportunist. He is the ultimate flip flopper and his political ambition has no bounds.
His “stroll” thru the Bagdad market was a pure photo shoot experience. Of course he strolled sporting a flack jacket, a large contingent of armed US servicemen, and with the maximum amount of chopper air support. This photo shoot was as phony, or more so, than “The Deciders”, mission accomplished publicity stunt aboard the carrier USS Lincoln. McCain obviously thinks that the American public is dumb and oblivious to the fact that the surge is not working!!
He, not those who criticize the war, lacks respect for our heros serving there. Some are now being conscripted for their third and fourth tours of duty with only seven months down time. National Guard troops are inadequately equipped, have been streched, thin and worked beyond capacity. It is those like McCain who remain oblivious to their plight.
Not only does Senator McCain have limited respect for the intelligence of the electorate, he has little, if any, self-esteem. In the 2000 presidential campaign President Bush again used “swift boat” like tactics to secure the South Carolina primary.
He did it by spreading vicious rumors that McCain had fathered a child by a South Carolina black woman out of welock. This lie caused McCain the primary, in the still segregation minded state. However, this supposed champion of election reform, refuses to indite the Bush administration for it’s 2000 smear campaign against him. He therefore puts his allegiance to a totally incompetent, unethical president, above the damage this lie did to his reputation and the hurt it caused his family. Mr. McCain represents a political opportunist of the worse sort. He has abandoned all vestiges of integrity!
Richard Blair
“off the rails” is right! Great list of bullet points for his OP/ED thanks for linking it here. I just added you to our blogroll, I thought you were on it – you are now!