From Politico
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=782D24D3-3048-5C12-00BE624BB8A56090
By: John Bresnahan
November 25, 2007 05:37 PM EST
Iraq and electability once again dominated the Sunday talk shows as the race for the White House kicked into high gear, less than six weeks before the Iowa caucuses.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), fresh off his latest visit to Iraq, told This Week’s George Stephanopoulos that “significant progress” is being made in reducing sectarian violence thanks to President Bush’s decision to send an additional 30,000 U.S. combat troops to the war zone.
McCain, who is trying to ride the improved security situation in Iraq to an improved standing in the polls, took shots at several Democratic candidates, including Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), for their suggestion that the United States should begin withdrawing its forces from Iraq soon.
“Is that the same Sen. Clinton that said she had to suspend disbelief in order to acknowledge to that the strategy of the surge was succeeding?” McCain said in reference to Clinton’s statement that the United States should stop trying to intervene in a “civil war” in Iraq. “Clearly, it’s succeeding. You would have to suspend disbelief to believe that it’s not.”
McCain later said Clinton’s support for a phased withdrawal from Iraq “would have been a catastrophe for the United States of America.”
“Look, now the same people who were saying seven or eight months were saying you can’t succeed militarily, we’ve succeeded military. Sen. Edwards used to call it the ‘McCain strategy.’ He doesn’t call it that anymore,” McCain claimed. “Their record is wrong on this. My record is right.”
But on the same ABC program, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), who has advocated a complete U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, pointed out that dozens of Americans continue to be killed every month in Iraq, in spite of a lower overall level of violence.
Richardson, like other Democratic candidates and party leaders on Capitol Hill, also noted that there has not been significant political progress inside Iraq among competing Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish factions.
“Progress shouldn’t be measured by casualty counts, by body counts,” Richardson said. “There is no military solution to the war in Iraq. There is a political solution. And there’s little [political] progress.”
“I believe that no American death is worthy of saying the body count has gone down,” Richardson added.
On Fox News Sunday, the Iraq conflict, and U.S. plans for the future there, also provoked a sharp exchange between Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a member of the panel.
Levin and other Democrats have refused to provide Bush with an additional $200 billion to conduct military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan during 2008, saying the president should not get the money unless he agrees to a “goal” of withdrawing most U.S. combat forces by Dec. 15, 2008.
Graham has been one of Bush’s staunchest supporters on the way and wants the new funds approved promptly.
“I think history will judge the surge as probably the most successful counterinsurgency operations in history,” Graham said. Graham accompanied McCain on the Thanksgiving trip to Iraq. “We’re on the right track with the surge.”
But Levin, like Richardson, echoed the Democratic line that the Bush surge has not brought about political reconciliation inside Iraq.
“The president’s policy very specifically had as its purpose . . . to give the Iraqi leaders breathing space to work out a political settlement, and that purpose has not been achieved,” Levin said. “Why in the name of heaven are we not willing to at least establish a goal for the removal of most of our troops?”
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has risen to second place in the GOP polls in Iowa behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, got the Sunday show treatment on CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer.
Under questioning by Blitzer, Huckabee slammed Romney for changing his views on hot-button social issues. Huckabee said Romney’s shifts were a major reason he has closed to within four points of Romney in Iowa, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.
“Mitt has changed his position. He has been all over the board. But my conservatism has been consistent,” Huckabee said.
“When he was pro-abortion, I was still pro-life and always have been. When he was for gun control, I was against it. When he was against the Bush tax cuts, I was for them. When he was against Ronald Reagan's legacy and said he wasn't a part of that Bush-Reagan thing, I was a part of that Bush- Reagan thing.
“So it is not just about where we are now, it is where we have been and where we can be predicted to be if we are elected president,” Huckabee added. “People are looking for not just authenticity, but consistency. And that is one of the reasons that my numbers are surging, not only in Iowa, but in the other states as well.”
Huckabee responded to Romney’s charge that he was soft on illegal immigration, specifically for supporting tuition breaks for the children of illegal immigrants, stating that it was not his policy to “punish the children of those who break the law.”
Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), during an appearance on Fox News Sunday, defended his campaign for the White House, as well as his support for allowing states to decide their own policies on abortion by repealing Roe v. Wade.
Thompson opposes efforts to enact a constitutional amendment to ban abortion, arguing that the effort is bound to fail because the proposal cannot garner enough support in Congress or the states to be enacted.
Instead, Thompson would like to see Roe abolished, allowing states to impose laws banning abortion, and thus shifting the abortion battle, in Thompson’s view, to those states that would retain access to abortion. “The game would be on the pro-life side,” Thompson said.
“What the situation is now is as follows — because of Roe v. Wade, all states are restricted from passing rules that they would maybe like to pass with regard to this area,” Thompson added. “If you abolish Roe v. Wade, you’re going to allow every state to pass reasonable rules they might see fit to pass.”
Thompson, who unveiled a new tax cut plan on Sunday to go along with his previous release of a Social Security reform proposal, even lashed out a Fox News during his appearance.
"This has been a constant mantra of Fox, to tell you the truth,” Thompson said when asked by Fox’s Chris Wallace if he is really running hard for the White House. Numerous conservative commentators on Fox and elsewhere have questioned Thompson's will to win and his work ethic.
“From Day One, they said I got in too late, I couldn't do it ... wouldn't raise enough money, and that sort of thing. And that's their opinion. They're entitled to their opinion. But that doesn't seem to be shared by the cross section of American people. If you look at the national polls, you'll see that I'm running second and have been running second for a long time."
Showing posts with label mccain iraq. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mccain iraq. Show all posts
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
McCain on Iraq and Democracy
Reprinted from: http://azamatterofact.blogspot.com/2007/11/mccain-on-iraq-and-democracy.html
Excerpt from Blogger/Media session on the bus in New Hampshire on Saturday, November 10th.
Azamatterofact:
In a recent blogger call you described long term US troop presence in places like Korea and Europe without the protests associated with our presence in Iraq. IS there a historical model or are we facing a new paradigm with respect to Iraq?
Senator McCain:
It depends to a great extent on what kind of government emerges in Iraq. The Kuwaitis because of their gratitude for us driving out Saddam Hussein, we not only have a troop presence their, we probably would have one hell of a time running the war in Iraq without the enormous support we receive from them. We have a base in Turkey for forty or fifty years. The Saudis found out that their society didn’t want Americans there, that there was a rejectionist [element]. Some people say that it triggered Bin Laden. I think that there are other things that triggered Bin Laden but he certainly used that. So I think a lot of it depends on society. Iraq has generally been a secular society. They haven’t been religious extremists so I could see us in bases that are not in bases that are not in direct conflict, in bases that would not encounter a lot of people. But that is up to the future Iraqi government in my view. If I had to guess I would say we probably be out given some of the circumstances that exist today. It wouldn’t surprise me if we stayed in some kind of support role.
Again I remind you, this is a very rich country, just as Kuwait is so that they could pay for this so we wouldn’t have the backlash amongst the American public because [the Iraqis] would be paying for it just as the other countries have.
Follow up by Marc Santora, NY Times:
Do you feel we might be lengthening the time we will be in Iraq with our new efforts such as building grassroots efforts with the Sunnis?
McCain:
The reason we are seeing these local political power structures is because of the failures of the central government. I still hold out some hope that the Malichi government and the Sunnis in the government will start acting effectively and we will be able see them do the things that central governments…I don’t see local governments entering into a revenue sharing agreement. I don’t see how you do that. I don’t see how you do that. I am still hopeful that we will see some progress in that direction. And in the other area, that is not unrelated is the rule of law. We have too many Sunnis in prison and nothing has been done about there cases. We’ve got to move forward. We can’t keep, I think it is what, 20,000 people in prison indefinitely. Don’t hold me to that number but I think it is right. The rule of law is really not where we want it to be.
Follow up by David Brooks, NY Times:
Have the events of the last few years made you re-think democracy promotion such as Palestine and Pakistan?
McCain:
I still hold to the belief that we are all endowed with certain inalienable and I think our Founding Fathers didn’t differentiate or delineate which part of the world you live in or what your religious beliefs are but we certainly have found out that in some parts of the world it is much more difficult than others.
When people talk about that failure of democracy in the Middle East I think the Turks are doing pretty well. I mean everybody kind of ignores them in this equation. We all knew what it took to bring them into that state but… So I think the lesson that has to be relearned every time is that it is not holding up your finger with the ink on it, it is rule of law, rule of law. It’s rule of law and until you get that you can have all the elections you want. Hamas was elected. A lot of people said “watch out if you have this election” but where’s the rule of law in Gaza? There is none. It is the law of the gun. It’s the law of who has the most thugs on their side so I have the unshakeable belief that all people have certain inalienable rights but also that Real Politiks has to enter into this both from a national security interest and a pragmatic side how hard it is to bring about these institutions which really are the fundamental issues of democracy. And the next time we here about some election in some other country and people hold up their fingers with the ink on them let’s not cheer and shout. Remember the time when Bush came to give the speech to the joint session and all my Republican colleagues were standing around, you know there is ink on our finger (holds up his hand and fakes a smile).
(Laughter.)
Excerpt from Blogger/Media session on the bus in New Hampshire on Saturday, November 10th.
Azamatterofact:
In a recent blogger call you described long term US troop presence in places like Korea and Europe without the protests associated with our presence in Iraq. IS there a historical model or are we facing a new paradigm with respect to Iraq?
Senator McCain:
It depends to a great extent on what kind of government emerges in Iraq. The Kuwaitis because of their gratitude for us driving out Saddam Hussein, we not only have a troop presence their, we probably would have one hell of a time running the war in Iraq without the enormous support we receive from them. We have a base in Turkey for forty or fifty years. The Saudis found out that their society didn’t want Americans there, that there was a rejectionist [element]. Some people say that it triggered Bin Laden. I think that there are other things that triggered Bin Laden but he certainly used that. So I think a lot of it depends on society. Iraq has generally been a secular society. They haven’t been religious extremists so I could see us in bases that are not in bases that are not in direct conflict, in bases that would not encounter a lot of people. But that is up to the future Iraqi government in my view. If I had to guess I would say we probably be out given some of the circumstances that exist today. It wouldn’t surprise me if we stayed in some kind of support role.
Again I remind you, this is a very rich country, just as Kuwait is so that they could pay for this so we wouldn’t have the backlash amongst the American public because [the Iraqis] would be paying for it just as the other countries have.
Follow up by Marc Santora, NY Times:
Do you feel we might be lengthening the time we will be in Iraq with our new efforts such as building grassroots efforts with the Sunnis?
McCain:
The reason we are seeing these local political power structures is because of the failures of the central government. I still hold out some hope that the Malichi government and the Sunnis in the government will start acting effectively and we will be able see them do the things that central governments…I don’t see local governments entering into a revenue sharing agreement. I don’t see how you do that. I don’t see how you do that. I am still hopeful that we will see some progress in that direction. And in the other area, that is not unrelated is the rule of law. We have too many Sunnis in prison and nothing has been done about there cases. We’ve got to move forward. We can’t keep, I think it is what, 20,000 people in prison indefinitely. Don’t hold me to that number but I think it is right. The rule of law is really not where we want it to be.
Follow up by David Brooks, NY Times:
Have the events of the last few years made you re-think democracy promotion such as Palestine and Pakistan?
McCain:
I still hold to the belief that we are all endowed with certain inalienable and I think our Founding Fathers didn’t differentiate or delineate which part of the world you live in or what your religious beliefs are but we certainly have found out that in some parts of the world it is much more difficult than others.
When people talk about that failure of democracy in the Middle East I think the Turks are doing pretty well. I mean everybody kind of ignores them in this equation. We all knew what it took to bring them into that state but… So I think the lesson that has to be relearned every time is that it is not holding up your finger with the ink on it, it is rule of law, rule of law. It’s rule of law and until you get that you can have all the elections you want. Hamas was elected. A lot of people said “watch out if you have this election” but where’s the rule of law in Gaza? There is none. It is the law of the gun. It’s the law of who has the most thugs on their side so I have the unshakeable belief that all people have certain inalienable rights but also that Real Politiks has to enter into this both from a national security interest and a pragmatic side how hard it is to bring about these institutions which really are the fundamental issues of democracy. And the next time we here about some election in some other country and people hold up their fingers with the ink on them let’s not cheer and shout. Remember the time when Bush came to give the speech to the joint session and all my Republican colleagues were standing around, you know there is ink on our finger (holds up his hand and fakes a smile).
(Laughter.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)