McCain Decries ‘Loose Rhetoric About A Minimal Commitment In Afghanistan’ … Like His Own
McCain Decries ‘Loose Rhetoric About A Minimal Commitment In Afghanistan’ … Like His Own
In today’s Washington Post, Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and John McCain (R-AZ) have an op-ed calling for a robust “comprehensive civil-military counterinsurgency approach” to the war in Afghanistan, demonstrating “unambiguous U.S. political commitment to success…over the long haul”:
As the administration finalizes its policy review, we are troubled by calls in some quarters for the president to adopt a “minimalist” approach toward Afghanistan. Supporters of this course caution that the American people are tired of war and that an ambitious, long-term commitment to Afghanistan may be politically unfeasible. [...]
Loose rhetoric about a minimal commitment in Afghanistan is counterproductive for another reason: It exacerbates suspicions, already widespread in South Asia, that the United States will tire of this war and retreat. These doubts about our staying power deter ordinary Afghans from siding with our coalition against the insurgency.
This pivot to Afghanistan is new for McCain. During the presidential campaign, when Barack Obama was already calling Afghanistan the “central front” in the war on terrorism, McCain was still insisting it was Iraq.
Additionally, as ThinkProgress has highlighted, in November 2003, McCain was tossing around all sorts of “loose rhetoric about a minimal commitment in Afghanistan”:
McCAIN: I am concerned about it, but I’m not as concerned as I am about Iraq today — obviously, or I’d be talking about Afghanistan — but I believe that if Karzai can make the progress that he is making, that in the long term we may muddle through in Afghanistan.
Watch it:
Last month when McCain was delivering a speech on Afghanistan at AEI, the Wonk Room’s Matt Duss challenged the senator on his comments. McCain was at a loss for a response, other than, “Well, obviously you are taking that statement out of context.”
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McCain Decries ‘Loose Rhetoric About A Minimal Commitment In Afghanistan’ … Like His Own
– - I’m really fed up with McCain’s plus-sized ego.
March 19th, 2009 at 2:38 pmphony
March 19th, 2009 at 2:39 pmBadmoodman,
BEST EVEAH!!!!!
So appropriate since he won’t back his daughter, either.
March 19th, 2009 at 2:39 pmHow do you take “muddle through” out of context?
March 19th, 2009 at 2:40 pmNo one ever wins in Afganistan. Ask the Russians.
March 19th, 2009 at 2:41 pmNote to McCain:
March 19th, 2009 at 2:45 pmMaybe you and Joe should get together and run for President in 2012. I’m sure you’ll be as relevant then as the two of you are now.
Does ANYONE listen to this old fool? Even the Right hates him.
March 19th, 2009 at 2:47 pmLast month when McCain was delivering a speech on Afghanistan at AEI, the Wonk Room’s Matt Duss challenged the senator on his comments. McCain was at a loss for a response, other than, “Well, obviously you are taking that statement out of context.”
Well obviously, Senator, bloggers know what they are talking about and you don’t so you have to retort with stuff pulled out of your decrepit ass!
March 19th, 2009 at 2:48 pmHey, John — you’re not campaigning for president anymore! You can quit flip-flopping!
Oh wait, what’s that? Your mission now is to oppose anything Obama stands for regardless of what your previous positions may have been? And that if Obama wanted the “robust” approach to Afghanistan, you’d be arguing for restraint?
So, in other words, you’re just noise. Carry on, then — we’ll do our best to ignore you.
March 19th, 2009 at 2:50 pmSomeone needs to explain to that old fogey that no one is listening to him any more.
Probably not even Megan.
¶ AIO
March 19th, 2009 at 2:58 pmGrampy McSame says – My friends back in the day we knew where the terrorists were, yeeeessss sssiiiirrrreeee, we knew, they were everywhere you look, why just look around you on any city street, there they are, seeeee, RIGHT THERE, behind you, just looking to poison your groceries, then kill your dog while they TP your house, you notice how the terrorists don’t look like you….it’s because they don’t, that’s why, when you look at Afghanistan, do you see terrorists, YES you do, because they don’t look like you, it sure makes terrorists easy to spot, because THEY DON”T LOOK LIKE YOU, I spotted a terrorist the other day as I was getting home, he was coming down the stairs with his shirt half off and his pants were undone….Cindy said she took care of him, so he left…I think I just terrored up my undies, time for a change.
Yeah, yeah gramps, that wasn’t a terrorist, that was your local “Service Man” taking care of Cindy’s needs.
March 19th, 2009 at 2:59 pmAh, the joys of living inside the US imperial monster machine. It’s all illegal, criminal fascist occupation. It is wrong, morally, politically and spiritually. A hostile military occupation violates international law and it is just plain evil.
March 19th, 2009 at 3:14 pmAnother McCain flip flop. When he makes a statement of any kind he should put in his own disclaimer. Something like, “this answer is only good for the duration of this conversation.”
I used to think Reagan was senile. And he was. But this man could give him lessons. Like any Republican, he reserves the right to give confusing answers any time. And they do.
March 19th, 2009 at 3:35 pmAre there tests for Alzheimer’s that might work off voice recognition software? Perhaps one of the universities is about to run his campaign rhetoric through the testing program now. This guy won’t even stand up for his daughter. Send him back to Arizona.
March 19th, 2009 at 3:52 pmSad that Fred Hiatt gives space to these two fools. Looking through the op-ed I cannot find one sentence that cannot be refuted, laughed at, or dismissed as deranged thinking.
March 19th, 2009 at 3:54 pmGET OUT OF AFGHANISTRAN
March 19th, 2009 at 4:01 pmThanks to the Bush-McCain “muddle through” strategy (aka “stay the course”), the Taliban have essentially won in Afghanistan. They control most of the country, and the rest –except for Kabul– is not under the Karzai government.
NATO is pulling out. Those 17,000 reinforcements are a stopgap to replace our departing allies.
It appears the Pentagon wants a do-over to avoid conceding defeat. The generals think a Vietnam-like escalation might do the trick. But we’d need 750,000 troops to meet the recommended force ratio of 25 counterinsurgents to every 1,000 civilians.
March 19th, 2009 at 5:13 pmYou would think that a man who spent time in a POW camp would get the idea that war really is hell. Obviously, John liked it.
March 19th, 2009 at 5:49 pmHeres an idea, why don’t we just GTFO of the middle east? In this economy we don’t have the cash to be spending on “wars”. I’ll take the chance of being attacked again before I live in a depression. I’m sure the 1,000,000+ unemployed americans will agree with me on that.
March 19th, 2009 at 6:33 pmMcSame, what a sad excuse for a Senator. Does Arizona have nothing better to offer?
March 19th, 2009 at 8:19 pmThat depends.
Can you rephrase this into a criticism of a former Bush administration official, John McCain or Rush Limbaugh?
If not, I don’t think it’s going to get much traction here.
On the front page of ThinkProgress I can find what John McCain said about Afghanistan 6 years ago. The current administration’s policies on Baghram detainees having no rights? Not so much.
March 20th, 2009 at 7:50 amJohn McCain and Joe Lieberman. The Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy of the political world. Weak, scared, confused and convinced that they are saving the world.
March 20th, 2009 at 8:00 am