McCain Declares Americans Will Support U.S. Troops In Iraq For 50 Years
McCain Declares Americans Will Support U.S. Troops In Iraq For 50 Years
The White House announced this week that it “would like to see a lengthy U.S. troop presence in Iraq like the one in South Korea,” where U.S. troops have been stationed for 50 years.
In the face of overwhelming evidence that Americans want U.S. troops out of Iraq, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has baselessly declared that Americans will support a long-term military presence “as long as the number of U.S. casualties can drop to almost nothing.”
“The key to this issue is not American presence, but American casualties,” he told a standing-room-only crowd of about 250 employees at Nationwide Insurance’s offices.
“We have had troops in South Korea for 60 years and nobody minds,” McCain said. “If you stay a long, long time, but have the Iraqis doing the fighting, and your people are back in the bases and away from the firing line, I think Americans would be satisfied.”
All the evidence suggests directly the opposite, that Americans want U.S. troops out of Iraq. Moreover, an ABC News poll this year found that 78 percent of Iraqis “oppose the presence of U.S. forces on their soil“; just one percent of Iraqis “want the US military presence to go on without end.”
This means that, unlike Korea, there is little chance that the U.S. presence in Iraq will be casualty-free. Indeed, “the specter of a permanent military presence in Iraq is widely considered to be one of the most inflammatory incitements to Iraq’s ever-growing anti-American insurgency.”
Of course, even if McCain admits that Americans don’t want to be in Iraq forever, it wouldn’t matter. He has previously proclaimed that he can ignore American public opinion because he knows “what’s best for the security of this nation.”
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
madman
June 4th, 2007 at 1:41 pmOk, we’ve definitely jumped off the deep end, McCain!
June 4th, 2007 at 1:42 pmApaprently, neither John McCain nor President Bush are readers of the history books. Just days after a scathing report from the Senate Intelligence Committee detailed how the Bush administration ignored the CIA’s dire warnings of sectarian strife and civil war in post-Saddam Iraq, the White House pointed to South Korea as a model for the American military presence in Iraq.
The prospect of a multi-generational commitment of U.S. forces to support the government in Baghdad not only raised the specter of an American war without end in Iraq. The deliberate resort to dangerously false historical analogies showed a Bush administration unwilling – or unable – to understand the nature of the conflict in faces there.
For the story, see:
June 4th, 2007 at 1:42 pm“Misreading History: Bush, Korea and Endless War in Iraq.”
Crazy ass guy, real crazy. I think Rove was right about McCain back in 2000.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:43 pmHe’s already wrong. What a loser.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:45 pmSomeone waterboarded his brain.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:48 pmSend him back to Vietnam if he needs his memory refreshed.
McCain is insane and stupid. Horrible combination.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:49 pmHe’s insane.
It’s not supported NOW.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:49 pmHe’s right–Americans wont care if there’s no one dying.
His feeling, however, that this is possible, is pure manical. Bullshit artist extraordinaire.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:50 pmhopefully mccain will keep saying this stuff. he could have been a real threat if he hadn’t fallen off the deep end of the insanity pool.
a couple of years ago i perceived him as a real threat…now he’s just pathetic.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:53 pmum… NO!!!!
June 4th, 2007 at 1:54 pm“The key to this issue is not American presence, but American casualties.”
Nice to know that the senator has a stranglehold on the obvious. Relative to our President, the soft-bigotry of low expectations requires that I see this is a compelling leadership quality.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:55 pmWhy 50 years? Just do the math.
Using conservative estimates, simply divide the estimated recoverable reserves by the projected daily production rate, then convert the results into years.
Estimated Iraqi oil reserves:
112,000,000,000 barrels
Estimated Recovery Rate:
65%
Estimated Iraqi production rate:
4,000,000 barrels a day
Estimated Time Until Depletion:
(((112,000,000,000 * .65) / 4,000,000) / 365.25) = 49.8 years
You might even note that this same 50 year estimate is used in this handy table used by the Global Policy Forum to estimate future Iraq Oil Profits (see Table 2 at the bottom of the page). As my math professor used to say: Q.E.D.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:55 pmMcJowls talking out of his arse, once again!
June 4th, 2007 at 1:55 pmOne thing McCain does not seem to understand:
Making comparisons of this type only underscores just how tragically misinformed and delusional McCain really is.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:56 pmF*CK MCCAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 4th, 2007 at 1:59 pmIt doesn’t matter to him because he won’t be alive 50 years from now.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:59 pmWhat planet is he living on?
June 4th, 2007 at 2:02 pm#13
June 4th, 2007 at 2:02 pmMcJowls, LOL dats a goood one!
At least 50 more, Jonny boy, at least.
June 4th, 2007 at 2:02 pmThe corprorate military industrial Hedgomy two headed (Dem and GOP) snake slithers on with an insatiable apetite.
Conquer & Subjegate. These assclowns never realized manifest destiny is why The British Empire is now England.
June 4th, 2007 at 2:06 pmInsane in the membrane, insane is McCain!
June 4th, 2007 at 2:08 pm“If you stay a long, long time, but have the Iraqis doing the fighting, and your people are back in the bases and away from the firing line, I think Americans would be satisfied.â€
So then why would we be there if we’re no longer fighting? So we can stay on the base and do nothing?
Put him out to pasture.
June 4th, 2007 at 2:10 pmDoes John McCain have Alzheimer’s? Some of us Arizonians believe he might.
June 4th, 2007 at 2:13 pmcynicalgirl’s name = bitch
June 4th, 2007 at 2:16 pmWe should never have invaded and occupied Iraq.
June 4th, 2007 at 2:19 pmMr. Irrelevant, sir?
June 4th, 2007 at 2:25 pmYour escort is here, sir.
Yes, that’s right, she doesn’t speak at all, just as you requested.
Yes sir, very subservient, sir.
Will that be all sir?
What?
Oh no, sir, sorry sir, Mr. Gannon is no longer employed here, sir.
Anything else sir?
Oh yes, the pill is on the nightstand, sir.
Sir?
i think he needs to stop what he’s doing,
June 4th, 2007 at 2:27 pmand take care of that huge thing that’s growing
inside his left cheek and jaw…
that thing is beyond scar tissue…
…
How out of it is this clown?
June 4th, 2007 at 2:28 pmSenator, If you could read, the polls are pretty clear on what the American people want.
You for president is way the fu(k down the list, like on the bottom, last, ain’t gonna happen.
I see where this is going.
June 4th, 2007 at 2:30 pmIf the neocons thought hydrogen power was going to be the future of energy, they’d be looking for a country with vast reserves of hydrogen to conquer.
Idiots.
John,
June 4th, 2007 at 2:32 pmFalwell called.
He set up a meeting with you at his place tomorrow morning.
Be there.
Wear something cool & bring your own rug.
This guy needs to stop smoking what ever he’s smoking. He’s had toooo much and needs to go into rehab and get straight. Apparently the koolaid is too strong for his weak mind. He hears a slogan and takes it way too far. John wake up my friend if we stay in Iraq for 50 years we will run out of body bags to put our troops in. But that will never happen because they (the troops) will finally start speaking out and then the bottom will fall out. You of all people should remember how the troops in Viet Nam acted after they knew the war was lost.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the fact that our troops in Korea aren’t getting blown up the IED on a daily basis. You need to fire all of your advisers and start all over if that’s the best they can do. If you feel that repeating everything that Tony Snow says is going to get you elected, then I got some water ocean front propery in Kansas I’d like to sell you. I serve in Korea and I can tell you if you don’t know, it’s nothing even close to Iraq. Before you can leave an Army anywhere you have to have peace or something that looks just like it first. There isn’t any peace in Iraq and won’t be until we leave. Your good friend Joe Liebermann is BSing you man, don’t believe the HYPE! Also your friend from Texas never really like you after you handing him a defeat in New Hampshire, so he’s also BSing you. Following him is like a blind man driving in the Indy 500, it just won’t work.
June 4th, 2007 at 2:34 pmToo bad HoChi Minh didnt just have this warmonger silenced for good back when he was a prisoner…I bet back then his big mouth wasn’t flapping as much crap as it does now…
June 4th, 2007 at 2:47 pm…the definitive face of…
..DESPERATION…
June 4th, 2007 at 2:53 pm#34 – big papa
Nail on head, my friend.
June 4th, 2007 at 2:55 pmThere is one legitimate comparison between Korea and our long-term presence there, and Iraq.
We’ve been defending the Kurds and their democracy for 15 years. They want us there, too.
Listen to General Sanchez, above – we need to think it terms of what we can do to avoid defeat. Shooting Arab Iraqis into embracing pluralistic democracy isn’t something our military can accomplish; keeping the Kurds from falling under some dictator’s boot, and being torn to pieces between the Iraqi Sunnis, Iraqi Shia, Iranians, Turks, and Syrians is something we can do.
Just like South Korea, just like Kosovo, and just like what we should be doing in Darfur.
June 4th, 2007 at 3:03 pmThat picture of Old McCain makes him look like a madman. As he is insane.
June 4th, 2007 at 3:04 pmHe will never be President.
This guy is gone off the deep end. He is bat sh$t crazy like the character Martin Sheen played in “The Dead Zone”…..
June 4th, 2007 at 3:13 pmIf those bastards think that just because they’re going around saying we’re there for the next 50 years then we’ll all just sit back and say, “oh well” they are mistaken.
June 4th, 2007 at 3:26 pmI gotta admit, I love watching his campaign implode. He’s delusional, why would anyone vote for him?
June 4th, 2007 at 3:35 pmwell,
if the Iraqis are doing the fighting, and the americans are back in the bases and away from the firing line, why do they have to be there?
June 4th, 2007 at 3:42 pmFifty years: That is EXACTLY what the NeoCons have planned all along. They captured and occupied a country with deep oil reserves and have given those reserves to those who bought them into office. Now they want to occupy Iraq endlessly to guarantee their pimps endless profits. Disgusting!
McCain talked about the horrors of BIG money in campaigns, while he was completely bought out himself. We cannot trust a word he says.
McCain, the current, corrupt president, his unindicted co-conspirators, and their sycophantic, lock-step drones are completely UNTRUSTWORTHY!
June 4th, 2007 at 4:07 pmSee, the reason this is so brilliant is because the insurgents and terrorists in Iraq can’t attack bases.
If the laundry lady is willing to blow up, the laundry lady is going to bring the “firing line” to you. It doesn’t matter how much you spend on the base.
June 4th, 2007 at 4:10 pm“If you stay a long, long time, but have the Iraqis doing the fighting, and your people are back in the bases and away from the firing line, I think Americans would be satisfied.â€
yep – he’s out of his f**king mind
June 4th, 2007 at 4:45 pmHe’s absolutely right. If Iraq was a peaceful host for our military, then nobody would have any problem with keeping them there.
The problem is that in reality, the suggestion that Iraq will be a peaceful place for our soldiers at any point within the next 50 years is a ridiculous fantasy.
June 4th, 2007 at 5:08 pmAmericans will not and cannot support a plan to have a long term presence in Iraq. It is a disastrous and costly plan for many reasons. The continuing high costs of our activities in Iraq take both the obvious form of high casualties and sky rocketing military expenditures, and less obvious forms like the causes that get overlooked because of the war.
The fight against global poverty is an example. World Leaders have developed the Millennium Development Goals to end world poverty, and it is estimated that only $19 billion more is needed to meet these goals. However, in the US the war in Iraq is diverting critical funds and attention away from the fight against global poverty. A long term presence there would continue to compromise the crucial fight against global poverty.
June 4th, 2007 at 5:19 pmThe man is an idiot. Yes, sure, if American troops were not dying in Iraq, American resistance to the occupation would be low. And if a frog had wings he wouldn’t bump his ass when he jumped.
Unlike the Koreans, who for most of the 50 years believed American troops helped stem off attack from the North, Iraqis are going to believe, correctly, that the American troops are an occupation force and will spend the next 50 years attacking their bases.
That photo is way creepy. He looks like a model for H R Giger.
June 4th, 2007 at 6:35 pmMcCain McCain..Insane in the membrain. Big question for him and his ilk…WHY do we have to occupy other countries for years to come??
June 4th, 2007 at 6:46 pmAbsolute off his rocker!!
Not only will the majority of Americans not support this (God, I hope!), but
the Muslim nations will NOT settle for it, at all!
It will continue to provide the true radicals more and more recruitment material as more and more of their loved ones are killed and America takes the blame.
He’s f*ckin’ nuts!
June 4th, 2007 at 6:55 pmMccain doesn’t have a chance to be president, unfortunately there are plenty of brainless warmongers out there that will support these types of positions. Supporting the troops doesn’t equal supporting this war. Sending them to Iraq for 50 years to get their nuts blown off for 15,000 a year so Exxon Mobil can make 40 billion a year in profits doesn’t sound like supporting the troops to me.
June 4th, 2007 at 7:05 pm#45 Comment by ytterbius — June 4, 2007 @ 5:08 pm
He’s absolutely right. If Iraq was a peaceful host for our military, then nobody would have any problem with keeping them there.
So, you are pro invasion? That is what comes through from your statement. Do you believe that if the invasion and occupation had gone the way the neocons had spun it, it would be fine to occupy Iraq? That it was was right to invade Iraq? That we have the right to invade a soverign nation, and if all goes well it is no problem?
Have you thought this out for yourself, or do you simply accept what someone in a position (here McBush) in power says?
June 4th, 2007 at 9:58 pmFrom the article:
“The key to this issue is not American presence, but American casualties.”
NO! “The key” is this idea that the US has the right of preemptive strike which it doesn’t. That is just wrong in today’s post USSR world.
We have no right to be in Iraq, and had no right to invade a soverign nation. American presence is the result of a preemptive illegal invasion, and the casualties are the result of that.
“We have had troops in South Korea for 60 years and nobody minds,†McCain said. “If you stay a long, long time, but have the Iraqis doing the fighting, and your people are back in the bases and away from the firing line, I think Americans would be satisfied.â€
I certainly hope they would not be satisfied! If they would be they would be backing BushCo’s whole ideology of “the ends justifies the means.” As long as we are OK in our bases controling the country it was fine to kill, torture and destroy to get there.
June 4th, 2007 at 10:14 pmThis paragraph is a sad attempt to justify this illegal, stupid occupation. McBush is a war monger in a suit. Until he can be thrown out of power he should be kicked to the dustbin of history.
The Next President of The United States of America. If elected, we deserve him…Time to go to God in prayer. HELP!!!!!
June 4th, 2007 at 10:33 pmMany of us rightly see McCain as a total wacko, but we’ve all got to concede that the “other side,” the idiots who voted Bush into office TWICE!, could easily be brainwashed to accept just about anything their wise leaders propose. That’s why we elect our politicians ’cause they’re way smarter than we are.
June 5th, 2007 at 1:08 amIs this a play on words?
“Support” the troops for 50 years?
I notice that he did not say it in the terms;
“The American people will support Bush’s deployment of the troops for 50 years”.
June 5th, 2007 at 3:10 amNow why didn’t McCain say it in those terms?
Lenin himself could not have taught us as much about imperialism as Monsieurs McCain and Bush. Never mind what the Iraqi people want, as long as we let them do the dying, everything’s cool. We get their oil and they get to spill their guts. A fine bunch of criminals…
June 7th, 2007 at 10:19 pm