McCain In 2003: We Can ‘Muddle Through In Afghanistan’
McCain In 2003: We Can ‘Muddle Through In Afghanistan’
Our guest blogger is Jon Soltz, chairman of VoteVets.org and veteran of the Iraq war.
Today, video was unearthed in which Senator John McCain in 2003 says we can just “muddle through in Afghanistan.” Watch it:
The video offers a glimpse into the true thinking of those, like McCain, who backed launching the war in Iraq and committing our forces there indefinitely. Particularly, they believed that Afghanistan wasn’t a concern and we didn’t need to take it seriously. In fact, just a year earlier, on CBS’ Face the Nation, McCain said capturing Osama bin Laden wasn’t “that important.”
Five years later, we now see where that poor judgment and lack of insight has gotten us. The Taliban has regained large swaths of Afghanistan, al Qaeda has reconstituted itself, Osama bin Laden still is free, and Afghanistan is in crisis. All of that lends itself to our nation being that much less secure, and in much greater danger of another terrorist attack from extremists from the Pakistan/Afghanistan region.
This is not the way to win the war on terror and keep America safe. That’s why it is so important that we get this strategy right now.
Think about it. Had we not gone into Iraq, as Senator McCain thought we should, our forces would have been concentrated in Afghanistan, we would have crushed al Qaeda, probably captured or killed Osama bin Laden, and secured the country all the way to the Pakistani border.
Had we sent the Iraq surge brigades to Afghanistan, instead of to Iraq, and shown a real commitment there, perhaps our NATO allies wouldn’t have pulled their troops from Afghanistan. And, again, we could have decimated al Qaeda, secured the border region, and maybe captured or killed Osama bin Laden.
And now, we’ve got a third chance to get this right. Unfortunately, while it’s laudable that Senator McCain has suddenly discovered there’s a war in Afghanistan, his hands are tied. A couple of days ago, he called for more combat brigades to be sent there. A few minutes later, the Washington Post reported he pulled back on that and said NATO would have to supply the troops, because we would have to keep our forces in Iraq. Well, the Administration’s commitment to endless war in Iraq and its political unpopularity throughout Europe is what caused our NATO allies to pull troops from Afghanistan in the first place. That’s unlikely to change if McCain continues the Bush policy.
That brings us back to the video. John McCain got it horribly wrong in 2002 and 2003 and showed poor judgment in the real war on terror that led us to where we are today. And now, he’s having a problem figuring out how to get it right. The knowledge of “how to win wars?” I just don’t see it.
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34 Responses to “McCain In 2003: We Can ‘Muddle Through In Afghanistan’”
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That's apt for a guy who muddles through his campaign, and life.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:13 pmBut, but, but . . . McNumbNuts is a war hero. He knows how to win wars (apparently because he crashed three jets in flight training, was involved in the Forestall disaster, tried to drop a bomb on an electric plant in Vietnam because he missed his assigned target and was shot down, captured and a POW for five and a half years).
This episode -- more than anything -- should demonstrate that McNumbNuts is just a stupider version of GDumbya. He will never be president, thank God. We can't afford another buffoon in the White House.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:19 pmI suppose we can add this event to the list of statements, rape jokes and positions that McCain has forgotten about, later denied or "refined". I find it very difficult to give credibility to a man who incessantly criticizes Obama for having no foreign policy experience, but at the same time seems to have no grasp of what is really going on right now. The fact that he has no sense or vision of the future beyond the status quo is even more fightening.
I sincerely doubt he knows how to win wars. I would be much more imporessed if he told me he could end the ones we have and prevent them in the future. I am really weary of hearing about "what he probably meant". That doesn't help.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:20 pmHow in the HELL can people actually think this man would be a better commander-in-chief than Barack Obama?! Well, if he becomes president, we can blame the drooling MSM.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:20 pmMcCain has no idea how to win wars as he never did anything except crash five planes - after stealing two of them, and get captured by the enemy - after which he made propoganda films for the vietcong. Maybe he considers leaving his ill wife a 'domestic war'. He's not a stable person.
McCain is the wrong guy to get anywhere near the WH.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:23 pmcue the swiftboat trolls.
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July 17th, 2008 at 7:23 pm"Karzi controls all of IRAQ" .... WTF He doesn't even know what country he is talking about!
July 17th, 2008 at 7:23 pmWatching the video I just noticed that he said in the middle (:51 mark) that "President Karzai,who I happen to admire, controls all of Iraq until you get to the city limits of Kabul..."
The guy can't even keep track of what country he's talking about. Uggh.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:25 pmThe guy can’t even keep track of what country he’s talking about. Uggh.
You won't hear one peep out of the press corps about this either. Olbermann or Jon Stweart might bring it up, but not our MSM. Oh look, another BBQ!
July 17th, 2008 at 7:33 pmdid you notice that he said that Karzai controls *Iraq* pretty much up to the limits of Kabul?
Aside from being as geographically misguided as his comments about Czechoslovakia, shows that he's been having "senior moments" for the last five years.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:36 pmoops. missed the earlier comment somehow.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:37 pmI continue to be amazed at how McDepends can make Dubya look like a 'roads' scholar.
And the Repugs want this assklown to be their nominee? Shows how far this bunch has fallen.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:37 pmIn addition to getting the countries mixed up, even if we assume he was talking about Afghanistan, he is still wrong. Karzai at the time may have just been called the mayor of Kabul, as he barely had any control of even that. He had no control of anything else in his country.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:43 pmFunny, on the Lou Dobbs Show on CNN this afternoon, the talking heads were pontificating about the perils of the coming trip by Obama to Europe and the Middle East and what if, he, makes a major gaffe...
Funny, McSenile makes major gaffes at least once per day on the average and it doesn't seem to bother the McCainstream Corporate Media (McCCM) one tiny bit. Can someone please explain to me in simple English exactly why that is?
July 17th, 2008 at 7:57 pmJim Wilke Says:
Yes, Obama would be a much better commander in chief. Just look at his military record……….what branch of the service was he in?
The same branch that FDR was in, nitwit. And Lincoln. And your big hero, Ronnie Reagan, who pretended to be in the military but spent the war making propaganda movies. And, of course, the heroic service of GWB, spent drinking his way across Alabama while the poor kids died in Vietnam.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:58 pmJim Wilke,
I am giving you the benefit of the doubt and think you were posting a sarcastic remark............. Right?
July 17th, 2008 at 8:01 pmGood point, JIm. A borderline-senile vet who graduated 894th out of 899 from the Naval Academy and who can't tell the difference between the nations we invaded will always make a better CiC than a civilian with a sound grasp of reality.
Man, those founding fathers were really stupid to insist that the Commander in Chief be the President and not a career military guy, huh? Now we have to go to the bother of electing a military guy, whether he's in full possession of his faculties or not. It's just a good thing no military vet would exploit his record to get elected.
July 17th, 2008 at 8:03 pmAt the risk of beating a dead horse… none of these guys gave a damn about Afghanistan or Osama bin Laden. It was all about control of the second largest oil reserves in the world…everything else was pretext.
July 17th, 2008 at 8:09 pmJim Wilke Says:
Oh, so Obama wasn’t in the service. I guess his long years in the US Senate will substitute.
At least he didn't wreck 5 aircraft and cripple an aircraft carrier.
And, he has actually shown up to vote, something McDepends hasn't done since April.
July 17th, 2008 at 8:14 pmHey Wilke,
And as for his 'muddling through' on Afghanistan, I guess that explains this from Huffpo today:
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/17/mccain-attended-zero-afgh_n_113452.html">McCain Attended Zero Afghanistan Hearings In Last Two Years
Guess you want to continue in BushCo's trend of never being confused with the facts, right?
July 17th, 2008 at 8:23 pmJim Wilke Says:
Oh, so Obama wasn’t in the service. I guess his long years in the US Senate will substitute.
Naw, his brain will substitute. It will be nice to have a President that has one of those.
July 17th, 2008 at 8:23 pmSorry, here is the link.
July 17th, 2008 at 8:24 pmMcMuddle is not fit for service dumping bed pans at the rest home. Perfect candidate for the GOP and their criminal corporate masters.
July 17th, 2008 at 8:24 pmHey Wilke,
Why would you want to have a CiC that is 100% disabled?
July 17th, 2008 at 8:26 pmMcCain can muddle through Afghanistan just like he's doing with his campaign right now.
The guy is confused and there's no way he's winning in November.
July 17th, 2008 at 8:41 pm>>A borderline-senile vet who graduated 894th out of 899 from the Naval Academy ...<<
And now that they're accepting convicted felons, the armed forces will soon be providing us with an even finer crop of presidential fodder.
July 17th, 2008 at 8:49 pmFirst of all, keep up the good work Mr. Soltz.
It’s always a pleasure to see you on the TV. and an honor to have you mingle with the “far, far, far, far loony-left” community of Think Progress commenters.
Come the new Democratic administration of 2009 I hope someone has the sense to ask VoteVets and IVAW to take part in a properly funded and authorized effort to reform the VA and provide policy advice on the many matters that affect the military.
Professional politicians always claim to know more than they really do and to know better when they really don’t—its just part of being a politician. They also reserve the right to change their ‘firmly held’ positions whilst never admitting hypocrisy and rarely if ever admitting a former fundamental lack of judgment or former ignorance about an issue or issues they once claimed to be expert-in.
McCain however seems to have taken these pretty standard traits to a whole other level. He has taken to changing his positions, his sage assessments and even his qualifications within weeks, days even hours and minutes on practically every issue he’s chosen to pontificate about.
He can’t blame such about-faces on youthful innocence or careful consideration or the sudden acquisition of new information that casts a dramatic new light on a situation because these reversals have been happing in the present and practically in “real-time”.
What’s more he hasn’t just changed from one position to its opposite and then hewed firmly to his new belief of policy—he’s actually switched back to his previous position on a subject and then switched again to its new (or rather now slightly used) polar opposite practically before anyone has finished recording what they thought his new position was (which would be the ‘old’ position---until he changes yet again, of course).
Furthermore whichever side of an issue he happens to be on at any given moment the arguments for his stance are invariably insubstantial and lack substantiation—he’s either shallow or stupid and often both---lacking the wit, wisdom or knowledge to comprehend the subject he supposedly feels strongly about or to claim the expertise he adamantly professes or to make his case or defend it, rationally coherently and convincingly to his peers and betters.
As a result when simply questioned about his inconsistencies his illogic and his inability to provide of evidential details he simply dismisses the question and flat-out lies about his own previous statements.
McCain was barely qualified to be a Navy pilot (and one has to wonder if the fact that his father was an Admiral had anything to do with him scraping-through graduation) and I fail to see how crashing three planes, being shot down in a fifth and then spending years in prison before returning home and then quitting the military in short-order to pursue politics makes him in any way an expert on the military or foreign policy—just two of the many responsibilities that a president must attend-to that are supposed to be his strongest subjects.
He’s never written a policy paper or a study for the War College (for which we should be thankful) or even an op-ed reflecting anything more pure and unremarkable opinion.
Add to that the fact that he clearly doesn’t listen to non-complementary views, is quick to belittle others, loses his temper when challenged and makes fantastic absolutist and fatuous claims such “I know how to win a war” and the cognitive dissonance he exhibits (such as supporting torture when he himself was tortured and claims he only gave false information) are all traits he shares with Bush to the most remarkable degree.
I wouldn’t let McCain drive his own campaign bus, let-alone a foreign policy initiative. And I wouldn’t let him make change at a lemonade-stand either--such is his grasp of the most basic economics. McCain is demonstrably incapable of getting anything right.
McCain is a very dangerous candidate. He should be re-nicknamed “Danger-Close”. Let's make sure we don't come to know him as "President ClusterF##k".
July 17th, 2008 at 9:09 pmUpside99...
to be fair I've seen no compelling evidence that the carrier mishap was McCain's fault. There's one video that I know of that is too poor in resolution and too jerky to serve as "proof" that McCain did a "wet-burn" that caused the fire that supposedly 'burned off' the missile on the F-4 behind McCain.
also to be fair, I'm not saying that isn't how it really happened either--from the records I've seen McCain was a shitty and undisciplined pilot--just like he's a shitty and undisciplined politician.
( even though lacks 's
July 17th, 2008 at 9:18 pmAnd by the way, for a $25 donation you can join the "McCain Aces" and then gain special access to the official "McCain Aces" graphic which you can download and then print out, or paste onto your own blog or e-mail to a friend!
Or you can just right-click on the McCain Aces JPEG right there on the web page, save it AND save yourself $25 bucks!
And the squadron of jets used in the graphic? Russian Mig 29's! SWEET!
July 17th, 2008 at 9:32 pmcue the swiftboat trolls.
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wilke?
is that the best
they can do?
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July 17th, 2008 at 9:53 pmNotice how McCain is rambling to the point of throwing out random factoids without being able to bring them to a coherrent conclusion. Is this the vision we want ?
So he is left with the argument that he should be prez because he was in the military. Isn't the argument of a military junta / banana republic / dictatorship ?
July 17th, 2008 at 10:53 pmPoor guy, 5 plus years in a prison camp is proof positive that the brain gets all scrambled in the process. Kind of sad, actually.
McCain needs to find a nice rest home - not the White House.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:53 pmWell he's gotten where he is by muddling so what's wrong with muddling. (LOL) At least when Bush was President he had most people fooled into thinking he had a brain between his ears. McCain looks like he'll have full blown Alzheimer's before November 5th. Can't you just tell these Repub's don't even talk for themselves? They obviously make these arguements for someone elses agenda. What a bad joke on US, and who's laughing at the Bush joke anymore?
July 18th, 2008 at 4:35 pmThis headline is too complimentary. McCain doesn't say we CAN muddle through he says we MAY muddle through. Big difference! He's not even sure of the muddling.
July 18th, 2008 at 7:12 pmOh yes - and the Iraq/Afghanistan mixup is astounding - oh John - you left out two whole syllables!