On Morning Of 9/11 Attacks, McCain Immediately Began Making The Case For Iraq War
On Morning Of 9/11 Attacks, McCain Immediately Began Making The Case For Iraq War
On the morning of the 9/11, just moments after the World Trade Center collapsed from the terrorist strikes, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) went on television and immediately began focusing the nation’s attention on Iraq. In an interview with CBS’ Dan Rather on 9/11, McCain said:
To be honest with you, Dan, I never thought that an operation of this sophistication and size would take place. I just never did. But I don’t think there’s any doubt that there are countries — Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea and others — who we know engage in proliferation of — of capabilities and, from time to time, involve themselves in state-sponsored terrorism. But never did we imagine on a scale such as this.
The next day, on 9/12, McCain reiterated the point in an interview with Chris Matthews. “It isn’t just Afghanistan,” he said, “we’re talking about Syria, Iraq, Iran, perhaps North Korea, Libya and others.”
Just a few weeks later — on Oct. 9, 2001 — McCain narrowed his focus, arguing that Iraq was “obviously” next:
PAULA ZAHN: And as you know, Senator, the U.S. and Great Britain notified the U.N. Security Council yesterday that they reserve the right to strike against other countries in this campaign. What countries are we looking at?
MCCAIN: Well, I think very obviously Iraq is the first country, but there are others — Syria, Iran, the Sudan, who have continued to harbor terrorist organizations and actually assist them.
On Oct. 18, 2001, McCain told David Letterman, “the second phase is Iraq” while linking Iraq to the anthrax attacks. Watch it:
In Jan. 2002, McCain visited a crowd of soldiers aboard the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and yelled: “Next up, Baghdad!”
The New York Times’ David Kirkpatrick recently noted that McCain “began making his case for invading Iraq to the public more than six months before the White House began to do the same.” The Times reported:
While pushing to take on Saddam Hussein, Mr. McCain also made arguments and statements that he may no longer wish to recall. He lauded the war planners he would later criticize, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney. (Mr. McCain even volunteered that he would have given the same job to Mr. Cheney.) He urged support for the later-discredited Iraqi exile Ahmad Chalabi’s opposition group, the Iraqi National Congress, and echoed some of its suspect accusations in the national media. And he advanced misleading assertions not only about Mr. Hussein’s supposed weapons programs but also about his possible ties to international terrorists, Al Qaeda and the Sept. 11 attacks.
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He was just doin’ what he was told to do…
September 11th, 2008 at 9:54 amAnd not one word about Afghanistan.
That is what clearly demonstrates his ignorance of geo-political realities.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:01 amThis is exactly what we will get if we elect this man… more wars, not less.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:05 amCatapulting the propaganda, if you will…
September 11th, 2008 at 10:05 amI lost the “karma” and comments sections on ThinkFast. Is this a site problem or just my computer? Sorry for O/T but there are still things to be said.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:06 amUm… weren’t most of the 9/11 hijackers Saudi?
Just saying….
September 11th, 2008 at 10:07 amYou just have to wonder about mccain’s sanity. Being in Washington, aware of how stretched our military is and still promoting more invasions.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:08 amOhhh, so THAT’s what he means by “foreign policy experience.”
September 11th, 2008 at 10:08 amMcCain has proven himself ignorant of Middle East affairs time and again. He is just another jingoistic war-mongering demagogue. Vote for him at the peril of the nation and against your own self-interest!
September 11th, 2008 at 10:08 amAbout ‘the old man and his pig’…
September 11th, 2008 at 10:09 amhttp://911proof.com/FactSheet.html
John McCain is like the little boy who kicked the dog because he got a spanking – except that he bombed the dog, the cat, his parents, and the entire neighborhood because Republicans only know violence.
Enough!
September 11th, 2008 at 10:10 amToo old, too hateful, too stupid to lead.
And still beholden to his best buds, the lobbyists.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:12 amGuess mccain wasn’t included in the conversations about terriorists using planes as missiles a month prior to 9/11. No one could imagine, but the DOJ stopped flying commercial a month before Sept.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:12 amAnd I guess the entire intelligence community missed the episode of “The Lone Gunman” on (ironically) Fox TV where an airliner that was remote controlled was going to be flown into the World Trade Center… and was broadcast on March 4, 2001…
September 11th, 2008 at 10:16 amLibertyLover Says: This is exactly what we will get if we elect this man… more wars, not less.
Don’t worry – we won’t elect him. The National polls are proven to be biased, not that this is a National election. The state-by-state polls have Obama significantly ahead of McCain in electorates – which is why the mass media isn’t discussing that. There are ram[ant voter registration drives across the country, including college campuses where sudents are worried about being drafted.
Unfortunately, you can worry about them stealing a third election. They are already knocking likely Democratic voters off the registration lists in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:17 amraynman Says:
And I guess the entire intelligence community missed the episode of “The Lone Gunman” on (ironically) Fox TV where an airliner that was remote controlled was going to be flown into the World Trade Center… and was broadcast on March 4, 2001…
September 11th, 2008 at 10:16 am
________
Or Tom Clancy’s Executive Orders, in which Japanese kamikaze pilots fly a 747 into the Capitol during the State of the Union address.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:18 am‘There will be more wars, my friends’….
September 11th, 2008 at 10:20 amIsn`t that what a good little noecon Warmonger does?
September 11th, 2008 at 10:21 amAs for his campaign the MSM is protecting,defecting and enabling McPalin so we will never see the real McMaverick Reformer……The debates ought to be entertaining.
And the beat goes on Says: I lost the “karma” and comments sections on ThinkFast. Is this a site problem or just my computer? Sorry for O/T but there are still things to be said.
It’s not you. I also had a couple posts eaten.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:21 amI think someone else said it, cuz I’d love to take credit for it, but….
It wasn’t an absence of intelligence, it was a failure of imagination.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:21 amFck off Promote Peace. Take your bullsht elsewhere. Want to bet your asshole comments show up on some Latin dcklicker site?
September 11th, 2008 at 10:22 amFeel free to flag away, folks. Nip it in the bud before it poos all over the place.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:22 amFck off Promote Peace. Take your bullsht elsewhere. Want to bet your stupid comments show up on some Latin dcklicker site?
September 11th, 2008 at 10:23 amNeedless to say, he got the wrong stinkin’ country:
http://www.asecondlookatthesaudis.com
Is this what “three decades of experience” on national defense issues are worth?
September 11th, 2008 at 10:25 amchristopher wiwi Says: The debates ought to be entertaining.
A lot of people I know who are undecided are waiting for this to make up their minds.
I’m sure we can expect McCain to lie as usual, and hope Obama will continue to call him out on it. With a few exceptions, I just don’t understand where everyone else in the Democratic Party is…. It’s not like Howard Dean to be silent.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:25 amA highly illuminating post. Great work, Faiz!
This community is usually pretty quick to contest or complain about one or another TP post (myself included) that appears ‘unworthy’ or that might draw a dubious conclusion, but such complaints are at least IMHO honest and rational.
But I visit TP daily because of the integrity, scope, quality and informational value of the posts that is so consistent I take it for granted.
So let me say thanks Faiz and everyone else at TP for keeping me well informed and engaged, before I go back to taking it all for granted again.
Thanks also to the passionate and very smart commenters here for their serious contributions–and their humor too.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:29 amMcBush was just adhering to the PNAC agenda.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:34 amYou gotta hand it to McNumbNuts — always wrong but never in doubt.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:37 amHe is so ignorant of Mid-East stuff – he never mentioned Saudi Arabia at all!
September 11th, 2008 at 10:41 amPromote Peace : “Russia stands for peace.”
Whilst present day Russia is clearly not the warmonger the Bush-run US is surely what Russia stands for is its own national and international interests, just like any other country.
“Thats why everyone here in the UK supports Russia”
Care to qualify that?
September 11th, 2008 at 10:41 amtom Says:
You gotta hand it to McNumbNuts — always wrong but never in doubt.
Well, there never a doubt that he is always wrong, in any case.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:44 amIf I was a reporter, I would love to ask McCain whether he was a large part of President Bush and the Pentagon’s psy-ops campaign that flooded the MSM to promote the WH’s propaganda. The flood of evidence points directly at McCain as being one of the most vocal former military men who shamelessly shilled for the Pentagon on every news channel and radio beginning on 9/11/01. We know the names of some of the former generals who acknowlege their participation in this program as a trade off for government contracts for firms that they represent. I am convinced that John Sydney McCain’s shameless anti-American whoring of himself for the New World Order movement is one of the main reasons why they have all embraced him now. If it could be proved that he was part of the WH’s propaganda machine how would average Americans feel about their beloved “maverick”?
September 11th, 2008 at 10:45 amThere are morons hight up in the RNC who put out the bs. McSame gets the memos every morning like other goofballs and they repeat them over and over until they get the new memo. They are disgusting.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:45 amWaltB Says:
He is so ignorant of Mid-East stuff – he never mentioned Saudi Arabia at all!
But that wasn’t in the Republican Noise Machine Talking Points memos, how was he supposed to know?
September 11th, 2008 at 10:46 am/snark on
While pushing to take on Saddam Hussein, Mr. McCain also made arguments and statements that he may no longer wish to recall.
Or McBane honestly can’t recall. It’s an age thing.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:49 amMcCain is intellectually and morally unfit to be President.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:50 amLet’s not forget to honor the tragic events of this fateful day by…
..going shopping.
September 11th, 2008 at 11:01 amMcCain’s citing of Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea is straight from the PNAC play-book’. At the time foreign policy really wasn’t an issue the Bush admin was discussing, publicly, and we all know now that privately terrorism was of no interest either BUT Iraq was already on Bush’s private agenda as early as May (?-I think) 2001.
How and why did McCain essentially come up with the “Axis of Evil” 3-4 months before Bush? The PNAC study that laid out the case for controlling the ME with force was published in 98 and distributed in particular to Republicans. I’m guessing McCain read it, but it would appear he bought into it completely. He was not an original signatory of the PNAC paper or one of its members but it seems he was pretty much a Neocon in all but name anyway before 9-11 thrust the PNAC’s schemes to the public fore. That’s news to me and it tells much of what a McCain foreign policy would be like—more of the same, if not worse.
September 11th, 2008 at 11:01 amLet us not forget McCain finished near the bottom of his class at the the US Naval Academy. And he only got into Annapolis because his father and grandfather were admirals. He’s the runt of the litter.
And how many aircraft did he crash?
And how about the great fire on the USS Forrestal? I know you’re not supposed to blame it on McCain but Corporate Media really hasn’t gone over that tragic event. And there are questions as to exactly what part McCain did or didn’t play in setting it off.
But there are different versions of the incident. Some claim McCain was horsing around thus causing the pilot of another plane to reflexively make an error. So…what’s the real story? This is fair game and goes to character. Did he or did he not almost burn down his own aircraft carrier? Can the U.S. afford another crazy old reckless guy in the White House?
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September 11th, 2008 at 11:02 amIt isn’t the early comments that bother me. It is the later comments.
The first few days, a lot of Americans made assumptions that turned out not to be true. I don’t hold that against anyone. Saddam was talking tough. In the first few days, it was reasonable to assume he might be involved, and to want to strike him for it.
A year later though? Different story.
Moreover, my biggest complaint of McCain with regard to the Iraq war is that he did not foresee any sort of organized response after the defeat of Saddam’s army. We need people in office who can say “If we go in, this might happen” and plan for it. McCain failed in that regard. It was a lack of judgment.
September 11th, 2008 at 11:04 am.
Johnny’s been McWrong on Iraq for 7 years now…
…Why people think he’ll ever be McRight is beyond reason.
.
September 11th, 2008 at 11:24 amGod help me – I hate that old bastard.
September 11th, 2008 at 11:51 amVote McCain for worldwide thermonuclear war.
September 11th, 2008 at 12:29 pmMcCain and Palin are LIARS, HYPOCRITES and FRAUDS.
McCain and Palin are LIARS, HYPOCRITES and FRAUDS.
McCain and Palin are LIARS, HYPOCRITES and FRAUDS.
McCain and Palin are LIARS, HYPOCRITES and FRAUDS.
McCain and Palin are LIARS, HYPOCRITES and FRAUDS.
September 11th, 2008 at 12:48 pmWake the F UP AMERICA!
September 11th, 2008 at 12:48 pmDon’t get me started.
I will start claiming the republicans and there allies as PNAC allowed this to happen for their power stay.
September 11th, 2008 at 1:23 pmCan’t take one day off to remember those murdered on 9/11/01, you still feel the need to push your hate America first mentality. Obama and Mccain agreed to put it down for one day but your hate runs too deep. Never forget, never forgive.
September 11th, 2008 at 1:28 pmBlaming the fire on the USS Forrestal on John Mccain? You must be a freaking total idiot. His plane was hit by a rocket on the flightline, there is video. I’m so glad I’m not a liberal anymore, you people are so ignorant it is scary. I feel sorry for you people, grow up, read a freaking book or something.
September 11th, 2008 at 1:37 pmJeez, talk about a conspiracy theory!
September 11th, 2008 at 1:56 pm“I’m John McCain and I approve this message”.
Send this to EVERYONE.
Quickly.
NOW.
September 11th, 2008 at 2:23 pmCopano_Texian Says:
Can’t take one day off to remember those murdered on 9/11/01, you still feel the need to push your hate America first mentality. Obama and Mccain agreed to put it down for one day but your hate runs too deep. Never forget, never forgive.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Another monumentally stupid wingnut whose Anti-American impulses disgust people with an IQ above that of a dustbunny. Cant take one day off of showing how much you HATE AMERICANS while PRETENDING to love America. It is hatefilled morons like YOU that are hurting my good country. You are too stupid and hatefilled to tell the difference between what an administration DOES and WHO WE ARE. You attack those who USE the freedoms that define us, that is what we ARE because you are a cowardly piece of garbage most at home hiding and shivering under your bed. You are disgusting and ignorant. Why not do the world a few favors. For instance, let the adults talk, you arent bright enough to add to the conversation, also dont vote. You are too stupid to help our country with any vote you might cast and last but certainly not least DO. NOT. BREED. our gene pool can do without the pollution of your stupidity and cowardice
September 11th, 2008 at 3:04 pmCopano_Texian Says:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Well really no one in their right mind could possibly care. Did I really see someone as congenitally ignorant and braindead as YOU question someone ELSES intelligence? Arent you depriving a village somewhere of their idiot? Better start saving your pennies its only a matter of time before someone as patently stupid as you has to hire someone to remind you to breathe.
September 11th, 2008 at 3:07 pmOn the morning of the 9/11, just moments after the World Trade Center collapsed from the terrorist strikes, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) went on television and immediately began focusing the nation’s attention on Iraq.
September 11th, 2008 at 4:11 pmThat is because 9/11 was an inside job and it was done so they would have their “new Pearl Habour”. Iraq’s oil was in the agenda from long before 9/11!
Johnny B. Goode!
Deep down in Arizona close to Mexico
Way back up in the cactuses where it never snows
There stood an ancient mansion made of gold and wood
Where lived a a corrupt politician named Johnny B Goode
Who’d never learned the difference between Sunni or Shia so well
But he could pretend to chase Osama to the gates of Hell
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Johnny B. Goode!
He used to carry his bribe money in a gunnysack
Go sit beneath a tree and count his Keating kickbacks
Old lobbyist on K street would see him sittin’ in the shade
Laughing at the doubletalk and flip flops he made
The people passed him by they would stop and say
Oh my but that little old mummy really hates the gays
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Johnny B. Goode!
Once upon time the state of Arizona couldn’t host a superbowl
Because it was legislated by a group of white supremacist trolls
The bigots were led by an angry fascist who was a goose-stepping man
A millionaire, senator who belonged to the Klu Klux Klan
Johnny B Goode was a maverick when it came to recognizing MLK
So the old cracker donned his klan robe and voted against a holiday
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Johnny B. Goode!
His mother told him someday you will be an old man
And you will be the leader of a murderous criminal clan
Many people will be blown to bits from miles around
To see you launch the nukes and take us all down
Maybe some day you will make mushroom clouds so bright
Sayin’ “Johnny B Goode pushed the button tonight”
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
September 11th, 2008 at 6:54 pmGo! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Go! Johnny!
Go! Go! Johnny B. Goode!
Although McCain was fairly quick off the mark with his attribution of 9/11 to ” Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea and others,” that is still just a laundry list of the usual suspects (to be dubbed a few months later “The Axis of Evil”) of which Iraq was but one.
If you want someone who started raising suspicions specifically about Iraq to the general public on literally Day One (9/11), you’d have to go to James Woolsey.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:02 amhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bec2hTuzeNU
(it comes at the very end of the clip)