Think Progress

McCain falsely claims Mosul is ‘quiet.’

Today at a townhall meeting in Wisconsin, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) tried to claim that President Bush’s policies in Iraq are “succeeding,” by pointing to the “quiet” in Mosul and other cities:

So I can tell you that it is succeeding. I can look you in the eye and tell you it’s succeeding. We have drawn down to pre-surge levels. Basra, Mosul and now Sadr city are quiet and it’s long and it’s hard and it’s tough and there will be setbacks.

Watch it:

Mosul, however, is not quiet. In fact, today AP reported, “Another suicide bomber driving a police vehicle struck Iraqi commandos earlier Thursday in Mosul, killing three of them and wounding nine other people, according to battalion commander Capt. Aziz Latif.”



30 Responses to “McCain falsely claims Mosul is ‘quiet.’”

  1. shaun says:

    of course it sounds quiet to mccain – hearing loss is common among senior citizens


  2. Ms_Joanne says:

    Honestly, this man is trying to not become president. He shows his cluelessness in almost every speech he gives.

    And people are actually supporting this.

    Amazing.


  3. Jane E. Schneider says:

    I’m sure that McCain doesn’t count bombings that only kill Iraqis.


  4. Wayne A. Schneider says:

    I can only hope that some day Senator McCain realizes that the decision to invade Iraq and depose its dictator was neither legally right, nor morally right. To continue to act in the belief that it was both and, therefore, to insist that we must “see it through to the end” is sadly delusional. You can’t make a wrong like this one right by insisting on doing more of the same. Withdraw, re-group, re-assess. Maybe there’s a better way to achieve whatever nebulous goal it is you have in mind. You do have a goal in mind, don’t you, Senator? A real one, meaning a reality-based one? Let’s hear it.


  5. Zooey says:

    Grampy had his hearing aids turned down…


  6. Jane E. Schneider says:

    McCain’s having an “Admiral Stockdale” moment?


  7. Shayne says:

    “Maverick Without a Clue”


  8. barrelhse says:

    Ah, the tranquil Indiana marketplace-like people of Mosul.


  9. Nevar says:

    Certainly the cities are quiet.
    Bombed out markets, demolished infrastructure, intermittent electricity, dangerous to travel in automobiles, no sanitation, millions have fled to other countries….


  10. MapleStreet says:

    I hope you’ll excuse me if I don’t applaud the peace in Sadr City yet.

    3 seconds on CNN looking for Sadr City and I find from the distant date of May 21, 2008:

    http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1808236,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-topics

    Residents of the impoverished and enormous Shi’ite warren in east Baghdad have been under siege since April, when Iraqi security forces backed by American troops began clashing in the area with fighters from the Mahdi Army militia led by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. For weeks gun battles and air strikes came almost every day in Sadr City as soldiers and militiamen faced off in a stalemated battle at the edge of the district, which is the Mahdi Army’s stronghold. A hastily arranged truce between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Sadr halted the fighting last week. Under the agreement, Iraqi forces are now allowed to enter Sadr City to pursue any so-called rogue militia cells not following the cease-fire and to conduct searches for heavy weapons like the mortars and rockets routinely flung from Sadr City toward the Green Zone.


  11. Doc Rock says:

    Let’s send him back there for some Mosul carpet shopping without the aircraft and other escorts this time.


  12. ninique says:

    grand ole pappy McSame says Sadr city is quiet after we’ve destroyed the place


  13. ArtZ says:

    Hey! Compared to downtown Philly…


  14. Paul W says:

    …Basra, Mosul and now Sadr city are quiet…

    The only thing that’s quiet is the inside of McCain’s empty head.

    http://progressiveworldreview.com


  15. profmarcus says:

    trust me, i don’t carry a brief for mccain, but respectfully suggest that think progress writers try not to fall into the very trap of context-free blogging that your counterparts in traditional news journalism do… “quiet” is relative as you can see by looking at my day yesterday in kabul, a day in which a suicide bomber also perpetrated an attack…

    Just Another Day in Kabul, Afghanistan


  16. Wayne A. Schneider says:

    McCain is a “Maverick in His Own Mind”. And nowhere else.


  17. ForTruth says:

    Yeah but there’s lots of pretty mountains in Mosul.


  18. Jess Wonderin says:

    Other than being clueless on the conditions, Grumpy also went on to claim: “I can look you in the eye and tell you it’s succeeding. We have drawn down to pre-surge levels.” !!!!!YIKES!!!!

    hummmmm . . . seems McSame has maybe lost track of the counting PROCESS . . . . 140,000 NOW, pre “Surge” was 130,000 – but who counts facts? No sense in changing the game plan now . . . .


  19. NOLIESPLEASE says:

    This guy McShame just spews bull shit from his mouth. Plane and simple.


  20. pluege says:

    sure all of Iraq is quiet since the GOP US corporate media stopped reporting on what was happening. If a tree falls in the forest and no hears it…according to mccain it proves that it didn’t actually fall.


  21. Oval12345678 aka James K. Sayre says:

    Ah, the perfect quiet of the cemetery, the Bush cemeteries scattered across Afghanistan and Iraq, and even a couple in western Pakistan. Heck of a war criminal, Mr. Bush.

    I have read that as one ages, one first loses hearing in the highest ranges of tones, as the high-pitched squeaks of the Hummingbirds. Since McCain seems to be almost totally deaf to any kind of real sound or thought, I guess that he is well on his way to total obliviousness. Actually, that’s been the Way of the GOP for the last eight years…


  22. dbadass says:

    ArtZ Says:
    ————————————————————-
    Hey! Compared to downtown Philly…
    —-
    What’s the problem? Is it time to burn down MOVE members again?


  23. Bozo The Neoclown says:

    Leave the old codger alone, the press reported only part of his quote. What grampy McLame really said was, “Basra, Mosul and now Sadr city are quiet :::under his breath:::: when viewed from my mansion in Arizona”.


  24. LumpyDunky says:

    LMAO, I honestly can’t believe ANYONE would take McCain seriously. Half the time McCain just doesn’t have a single clue. Such a joke. He should change his title from Senator to Dictator Brown Nose. LOL.

    JJ
    Online Privacy when it Counts


  25. Exit Stage Left says:

    I saw a clip of him spouting his crap last night…He looks like he’s dying. His face looks like that of a burn victim. What the hell will he look like after 4 or 8 years of bringing us more war?


  26. shoeless says:

    Basra, Mosul and now Sadr city are quiet…

    John, if you can’t hear the bombs, turn up your hearing aid.


  27. Nevar says:

    It’s hard to imagine McCain surviving the campaign, much less even a single term in office.


  28. Nevar says:

    McCain is not in good health, if you read between the lines of his doctors reports, they say he is in “adequate health”.
    That’s similar to saying G W Bush’s mental capacities are “adequate”.


  29. Skeeter1 says:

    I’m usually first in line to rip McCain, but on this one, he’s right.
    It IS quiet.
    After all the bombings, people are huddling inside and keeping their voices down.
    He said “quiet”, not “safe.”
    Let’s judge him on what he actually says for a change.


  30. tarazan says:

    Iraq nowadays does not fall under any of world standards in anything and that includes daily death and murders.
    So if 30 people killed in an Iraqi city in one day,few homes and cars blown out, that’s considered ‘quiet’ day in Iraq according to McCain.
    If everything so quiet,then why we keep sending more troops to Iraq?
    That’s good enough for him to claim ‘The Surge is working’.
    And if McCain wins the Presidency, he will sell us another ‘quiet’ war with Iran.



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