For while Senator McCain was turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, I stood up and opposed this war, knowing that it would distract us from the real threats we face. When John McCain said we could just “muddle through” in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights. John McCain likes to say that he’ll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell – but he won’t even go to the cave where he lives.
And today, as my call for a time frame to remove our troops from Iraq has been echoed by the Iraqi government and even the Bush Administration, even after we learned that Iraq has a $79 billion surplus while we’re wallowing in deficits, John McCain stands alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war.That’s not the judgment we need. That won’t keep America safe. We need a President who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past.
Ordinarily, I would call the bolded text an unfair attack and explain just why McCain is reluctant to send operations into Pakistan. However, that first clause of the bolded text makes McCain a liar. He criticized Obama for his willingness to follow Bin Laden to Pakistan while claiming willingness to follow him to the gates of Hell. The two just don’t go together.
If and when an American President authorizes a full-scale assault on Osama bin Laden, I can only hope that they will keep their heads about them and do it in a way that does not destabilize a nation or compromise our allies’ positions unnecessarily. But, yes – I would send Delts into Pakistan any day of the week to bring back the mastermind of 9/11, and I hope our next President has the sense to do the same.
Apart from that – it is a great relief to me to find that McCain and GWB are finding themselves the lone hold-outs on perpetuating the war in Iraq to infinity – and that even GWB is starting to relent. After the 2004 election, I honestly thought that Americans and their politicians were going to tolerate this madness indefinitely.
Without permission to send active troops completing a mission across its border, it’d be a virtual act of war on that nation. In short, unless Pakistan says “okay, you can send some special ops in to take out X”, we can’t do it unless we’re ready to go to war with Pakistan. Oh, you can try it…..remember, my nephew has been on some missions in some strange places, but you’d better not have a single shred of evidence that you even crossed the border.
Which is why we haven’t done it, yet. I can imagine the proclamations of how many terrorists we’d help recruit (it’s always our fault, after all) were we to send troops secretly into a Muslim country seeking to carry out a mission. After all, that’s what we’ve heard has been the reason for the so many terrorists: our bases in the ME. And those we out in the open & on record! In short, once again, Obama is saying pretty words that mean Jack Squat in reality.
If he does win, though, I expect that by, say, June 1, 2009, we’ll hear the details of successful special ops plan that he gave the okay on. “Don’t tell me they’re just words”, after all.
Weak cheese, buddy.
A general statement compared to a detailed proposal? Hey, I’m against imprisoning people against their will (general) while I support jailing kidnappers (detailed).
A strongly worded general statement at that – one meant to enhance his image as a tough guy – with detailed proposals directly counter to the force of the statement.
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Withholding (at least tacit, under the table) permission to come get Osama bin Laden would be a “virtual” act of war, too. Do it covertly and quickly and tell people you found him wearing a life jacket in international waters if that’s what needs to be done. Pussy-footing around and making excuses why it’s too hard is not exactly “following to the gates of hell.”
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