During an appearance today in Columbus, Ohio, John McCain made the claim he "believes the Iraq war can be won within four years." That simple claim creates the necessity to explore multiple issues, and there are obvious factual observations to explore.

In making that statement, John McCain supported his claim with no facts. He didn't indicate there was even one member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that agreed with his claim. He made no indication that he'd arrived at that assessment after consulting with any military leadership. He failed to provide any details indicating the Iraqi government supports his latest claim. But most importantly, he offered no plan on how he would accomplish his latest claim. He simply made his claim, hoping it sounds good enough on the surface that he won't have to flesh it out with pesky details.

If his latest claim actually turned out to be accurate, then that would mean the greatest military force the world has ever seen would have spent ten years at war with a small country with little military muscle. That's seven years longer than it took to win WW II and it was fought against two major military powers on multiple fronts around the planet, in the air, on the ground, and at sea.

John McCain also omitted any discussion about the costs of continuing this needless war for four more years. It's unlikely that this war will cost less to wage, but assuming it doesn't exceed the current spending levels that would mean John McCain is willing to dump another $624 billion into this quagmire. That's money that won't get spent on America's needs at home, instead he's more than willing, and eager to channel it into a four year continuance of a needless war. The shameful side of his claim also wasn't discussed by McCain. He didn't mention his willingness to allow more American's to die for George W. Bush's mistake. That was left unsaid.

John McCain just issued a claim. No plan accompanied his claim. No facts were offered to support his claim. He just made his claim and hoped that would be enough.

But John McCain has another problem with his latest claim. He's made claims before. He's made lots of claims about Iraq that are verifiable, and were public. He has a problem with his latest claim, and that issue is the fact that John McCain has no credibility left in discussing Iraq. You'd have to look long and hard to find any individuals with less credibility on the Iraq war than George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and John McCain. The problem with McCain's latest claim is his record on previous claims about Iraq. He would like to project the image that he has superior knowledge about this needless war and it's a cornerstone of his presidential campaign.

John McCain has a problem. He has a record on Iraq. He has a record he can be, and should be judged by.

John McCain has repeatedly confused Sunni and (*)(*)(*)(*)e religious sects, revealing a stunning ignorance for a senator who claims to be the sole possessor of superior knowledge and judgment regarding U.S. involvement in Iraq. Frankly, McCain has an astonishing record of inaccurate assessments and poor predictions about Bush’s needless war in Iraq. From his nonsensical assessment of the security of Baghdad to his assertions of political progress in Iraq, which even the top U.S. commander in that country contradicts, McCain has a (*)(*)(*)(*)ing history of being wrong on Iraq.

McCain said the war in Iraq would be “One of the best things that’s happened to America.” While appearing on NBC’s Meet The Press, McCain said, “We’re going to be all right. We’re going to prevail and we will win and it’ll be one of the best things that’s happened to America and the world in a long time ‘cause it’ll reverberate throughout the Middle East.” (March 3, 2003)

Five years later, 4,000+ dead Americans, $3 trillion spent and no “reverberation”, this is “one of the best things that have happened to America”?

McCain predicted “Great Joy and Pleasure in Iraq”. While appearing on NBC’s Meet The Press, McCain said, “I believe that these people have the same yearnings for freedom and democracy and independence and self-determination that every person on earth does, and once this Gestapo is off of their backs, then I think you will see great joy and pleasure that we were able to free them and that will not come until they are sure that they don’t have Saddam Hussein returning again.” (March 30, 2003)

Five years later, 4,000+ dead Americans, $3 trillion spent and where’s the “great joy and pleasure” in Iraq” Instead, we’re battling insurgents, that’s Iraqi citizens, that seem to be annoyed with an invasion and prospect of a 100+ year occupation.

McCain said Bush led with “clarity and did not exaggerate the case for war”. In 2003, McCain praised George W. Bush’s leadership on the Iraq war saying, “I think the president has let with great clarity and I think he’s done a great job leading the country, don’t you all?” And asked if he thought the president exaggerated the case for war, McCain said, “I don’t think so.” (MsNBC Hardball, April 4, 2003 / Fox News July 31, 2003)

Five years later, 4,000+ dead Americans, $3 trillion spent, no weapons of mass destruction in 200 known sites, no nuclear threat, no clear and present danger to America, in fact 100% of Bush’s claims used as sole justification for starting his needless war turned out to 100% false, and McCain says “no exaggeration”.

McCain said that disarming Iraq would, “Significantly Improve the Stability of The Region.” In a 2003 New York Times op-ed, McCain wrote, “Many critics suggest that disarming Iraq through regime change would not result in an improved peace. There are risks in this endeavor, to be sure. But no one can plausible argue that ridding the world of Saddam Hussein will not significantly improve the stability of the region and the security of American interests and values. (March 13, 2003)

Five years later, 4000+ dead Americans, $3 trillion spent, and no “stability in the region”. We don’t even have “stability in Iraq”. We don’t even have “stability” in Baghdad. We don’t even have “stability” in the Green Zone. Then there’s the issue of Bush’s needless war enhancing Iran’s influence in the region to a point where the Republicans are contemplating starting yet another war they can lose.

McCain predicted “Jubilant Iraqis Would Diminish Anti-American Sentiment in The Middle East.” In the build up to the Iraq war, McCain stated that it is “more likely that antipathy toward the United States in the Islamic world might diminish amid the demonstrations of jubilant Iraqis celebrating the end of a regime that has fee equals in its ruthlessness. (American Conservative Magazine, February 11, 2003)

Five years later, 4,000+ dead Americans, $3 trillion spent and no “jubilant Iraqis” The reality is, Bush’s blunder in strategy allowed a civil war to erupt. The fact is, anti-American sentiment in the Middle East has swelled the ranks of al-Qaeda as a great recruiting tool. The fact is, all of our own intelligence agencies are on the record in stating the Iraq war has made America less safe. In the face of this evidence, McCain wants to continue this mistake for 100+ years.

Repeatedly, McCain Claimed The United States Would Win Easily in Iraq. In 2002 and 2003, before the invasion, McCain repeatedly claimed success in Iraq would be easy and minimized potential risks. According to CNN, McCain stated, “Because I know that as successful as I believe we will be, and I believe that the success will be fairly easy, we will still lose some American young men or women.” (March 17, 2003)

Five years later, 4,000+ dead Americans, $3 trillion spent, a civil war in progress, tens of thousands more troops and this is “easy”? It was “easier” and faster to defeat the Germans and Japanese in WW II than to just create order in Iraq. It was so “easy” McCain now thinks we should still be working on it for 100+ years.

When it comes to Iraq, a cornerstone to his bid to become president, John McCain has a record we can view and judge him by. He’s been consistent. He’s been consistently wrong. He’s been wrong, dead wrong. He was wrong then. He’s wrong now. His claims are not subject to spin. They’re documented and reveal the danger of allowing anyone so consistently wrong the opportunity to make the mess he helped create, get worse.

When it comes to credibility, John McCain is bankrupt. He’s spent and squandered any credibility he once had in his blind allegiance to George W. Bush. There is zero reason to accept any of his assessments, including his latest one, as having any basis in fact or truth. Obviously that won’t stop him from making more claims, but his own record of previous inaccurate claims should disqualify any credibility from being attached to them.

John McCain, who has been consistently wrong, is wrong for America. His own well established record proves that beyond any doubt.

Yes. Because your own stupid party can't make up its mind who to prop up against him, yes...he just needs to issue "claims" at this point.

He's also got another problem. Narrow-minded "dumbmasses" who demonize anything he says, simply because of his party affiliation. If John McCain said that money doesn't grow on trees, I'm sure the democrats would find a tree, grab some Scotch Tape and dollar bills, just to prove him wrong.

Sorry...I didn't read the rest of your drivel. You're lucky I got this far.

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"I should be calling collect from jail for the things I commit each night in my head" - D. Mustaine.

Well of course you didn't read it. It's typical of the dead-enders. If you can avoid facts and truth it's easy to blindly cling to your myth. You're pathetic attempt to label this as "demonizing" makes you play the role of the fool. The post was laden with actual quotes from John McCain. They were verifiable quotes, with the sources prominently listed. That's hardly "demonizing" to use a person's own words to gage their judgement.

But individuals, like you, that limit their view of the world to the ass of the sheep in front of them perfer to cry foul when someone's own words are cited.

You're lucky I even bother to reply. You can return to your ostrich stance now.

Your lucky we opened this thread to read it, considering almost everyone of your posts are these blind bash McCain threads. I've said it before, I can't stand McCain, but there is nothing that will make me ever vote for Obama or Hitlery. McCain is a liberal, the other two are socialists.

Well that's an interesting observation. Using exact quotes, with verifiable, stated sources is a "blind bash" of McCain? So if their previous record is off the table, maybe we should just pick a president based on someone that looks like they'd be fun to share a beer with.

Oops, we've already tried that one and wound up with the worst president in our nation's history.

So congrats, you've taken a politicians commnets (out of context), segmented them, and used your tired anti-bush, anti-war on terror rhetoric to demogauge them. I guess our presidential candidates are supposed to have prophetic knowledge about international issues. There are Iraqi's who are thankful for the work we've done there and for a region that hasn't been stable since the begininning of time, do we really think that we can turn completely around in less than a decade? I sure don't, and to be quite honest, I think it was stupid of him to even suggest that this could be easy.

I don't neccessarily disagree with everything you've said. He's been wrong on lots of issues. BUT, we could do this same song and dance with any candidate in history if we broke down all they're comments into single sentences.

McCain is a centrist, but Obama and Hilary are borderlining on socialism. For this reason alone I couldn't vote for them, so I guess it's just a matter of selecting the lesser of the three evils.

That's very debatable, but it's your opinion and your entitled to it.

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That's a false claim that McCain's comments were taken "out of context". They were part of interviews he granted, and stated as such. You're being absurd to suggest that anyone expects a candidate to have "prophetic knowledge". I don't and didn't in the post. However, when McCain made his claim today it borders on "prophetic knowledge. He offered no details, no supporting evidance, just a claim. That brings into fair question his previous claims on the same subject.

No. I didn't read it because any post over 3 paragraphs is usually just mindless, one-sided banter. I usually only jump on this board for 5-10 minutes at a time, so I go for the quick hitters. You would have been better off just saying "McCain sucks because of a bunch of one-sided silly reasons, and because I said so."

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"I should be calling collect from jail for the things I commit each night in my head" - D. Mustaine.

So why vote for a lesser evil. It's still evil. My vote this fall will be for Bob Barr. Why? Because he is neither a Demowhore or a Republiwhore.

Nice answer, but Barr's still a whore.

Same kinda whore, but working a different street corner.

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"I should be calling collect from jail for the things I commit each night in my head" - D. Mustaine.