McCain Endorsed Escalation Despite Suggesting 20,000 Additional Troops Were Too Few To Win The War. When asked prior to Bush’s announced escalation if 20,000 troops were enough to control the situation in Iraq, McCain suggested it was not enough. Matt Lauer of NBC News asked McCain, “You have long called for more troops …Will 20,000 do the job in your opinion?” to which McCain replied, “I’m not sure. …But to make it of a short duration and a small size would be the worst of all options to exercise in my view.” Despite that assessment, 6 days later, on January 10, McCain agreed that Bush’s plan to send just over 21,000 additional forces to Iraq was enough forces to provide an adequate surge. When asked if it was enough, McCain said, “I think so…I think it meets our criteria.” [1]
McCain Focuses On The “Bright Side” Of The Iraq War, Saying “We’re On The Right Track.” On March 1, 2006, McCain played down the increasing civil violence in Iraq. When host Don Imus remarked that Iraq “already looks like a civil war,” McCain responded, saying, “I keep trying to look at the bright side of this because we have to because the consequences of failure are catastrophic.” McCain added, “I think, at least we’re on the right track here.” [2]
After Missing Congress’ Three Most Crucial Iraq War Votes, McCain Was Present for the Fourth. Despite missing the first three most crucial Iraq war votes and several others this Congressional session, Senator McCain decided to be present on the Senate floor and cast a vote on what he considers to be the most important issue—Iraq. McCain has already missed has missed 37 votes over all (31.9%) during is the current Congress. [3]
Recent Iraq stories
McCain Defends "Mission Accomplished"
Just how far will John McCain go to defend Bush? Even further than Bush's spokesperson, apparently. This just in, from the Associated Press: "Republican John McCain says President Bush should not be held responsible for the much-criticized "mission accomplished" banner five years ago, but he should be blamed for bungling the early months of the Iraq war."
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Maliciously Quoting?
MoveOn.org launched an ad targeting John McCain's 100-years-in-Iraq line to coincide with the 5 year anniversary of Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech.
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100 Years
Josh Marshall hits all the key points:
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Another McCain Foreign Policy Error, With Video
I mentioned this earlier, but I wanted to post again with the video. McCain's latest display of his lack of foreign policy understanding came today when he wouldn't divert troops from Iraq to Afghanistan to keep his promise to chase bin Laden to the gates of hell unless Gen. Petraeus said it was necessary.
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McCain Gets It Wrong - One More Time!
Here's the latest example of McCain's failure to understand American foreign policy. He was just asked if he'd divert troops from Iraq to Afghanistan to keep his promise to chase bin Laden "to the gates of hell." No, McCain said, unless Gen. Petraeus said it was necessary.
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[NBC News, 1/4/07; CNN.com, 1/10/07; AP, 1/12/07]
[MSNBC, 3/1/06; ABC News, 2/26/06]
[Chicago Tribune, 3/16/07; Washington Post, 3/26/07; Washington Post Congressional Database]