"To promise a withdrawal of our forces from Iraq, regardless of the calamitous consequences to the Iraqi people, our most vital interests, and the future of the Middle East, is the height of irresponsibility," he said. "It is a failure of leadership."
A failure of leadership got us into Iraq in the first place. I'm also surprised that the Iraqi people are considered the most vital interest to John McCain. If that's the case, maybe he should honor the Iraqi people's wishes and start supporting a withdrawal.
McCain made sure to spend some time fear mongering and attacking Democrats for supporting a withdrawal. From Raw Story:
McCain warned against the swift withdrawal of troops advocated by Obama and Clinton, saying Iraq could quickly become a terrorist haven."These likely consequences of America's failure in Iraq would, almost certainly, require us to return to Iraq or draw us into a wider and far costlier war," the Arizona senator said.
I'm not saying that a withdrawal won't be difficult. However, we can't militarily make any progress on the ground. Why should we sacrifice our soldiers for a conflict that has to be settled by the Iraqi people? The interesting part of this speech is how many times McCain contradicts himself:
People deserve a candid assessment of progress in Iraq as well as of the serious difficulties that remain and of the consequences of hasty withdrawal."
I agree with McCain on this. The American people deserve an honest assessment of the realities on the ground. We deserve to know whether the "surge" really did work and how much or how little political progress has been made. We also deserve to know who is doing the majority of the fighting in Iraq without being told it's Al Qeada. We deserve to know that there can be no military solution and only a political solution in Iraq. We deserve to know that the Iraqi people do not want us to stay and occupy their country, like Republicans John McCain and Mike Pence like to suggest.
McCain goes on to show us how much of a straight talker he is:
"The dramatic reduction in violence has opened the way for a return to something approaching normal political and economic life for the average Iraqi,"
Normal political and economic life for the average Iraqi? There is no dramatic reduction in violence in Iraq. Just one day prior to McCain's speech, we lost seven American soldiers. We've lost 48 soldiers in the last thirty days. There was fighting in Basra between the Shiites and now the fighting is erupting again on the streets of Baghdad. Iraqi people don't want to leave their homes and you call the state of affairs in Iraq, "Approaching normal?" McCain goes on to talk about the importance of telling the truth to the American people:
"I do not believe that anyone should make promises as a candidate for president that they cannot keep if elected," McCain told the crowd of about 130 people, mostly veterans."
I think we should take McCain at his word. He's promising to keep the Iraq War going. That should be enough for every American to vote for the Democrat in November.
