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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJOHN McCAIN Despicably Pushes For FULL-SCALE MIDDLE EAST WAR During ISIS Senate Hearing
On Wednesday afternoon, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was his normal warmongering self as he grilled Secretary of State John Kerry over the Obama Administrations strategy to deal with ISIS. McCain used his time during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to beat his chest and demand that the United States not only get into a ground war in Iraq and Syria to combat ISIS, but that the country also needs to commit to a war against the Assad regime in Syria. While House Democrats are legitimately concerned about the White Houses plan to arm and train Syrian rebels to help fight ISIS on the ground, McCain wants the President to push forward and go whole hog with the war machine. Below is the exchange between McCain and Kerry (emphasis mine):
Kerry: The Syrian opposition has been viable enough to be able to survive under difficult circumstances but they still have some distance to go and we need to help them go that distance.
McCain: The hero of this piece so far in my view is a guy whos going to testify after you, Robert Ford, Ambassador Ford. He did a magnificent job at the risk of his own life, riding around Damascus in his support of the Free Syrian army. Heres what hes going to say in his testimony. The moderate armed oppositions biggest enemy is not the Islamic State, it is the Assad regime which has killed far more Syrians than has the detestable Islamic State, and they wont stop fighting the Assad regime even as they advance against the Islamic State. Youre saying, ISIS first. Were going to train and equip the Free Syrian army and theyre going to be fighting against Assad who they view as their number one enemy. I agree with Ambassador Fords assessment. Youre saying, ISIL first. So if this so were telling the young Syrian today, I want you to join the Free Syrian Army, youve got to fight ISIL first, and by the way those barrel bombs that are being dropped on you and these attacks from the air that of Hamas customers of so many Syrians, were not going to do anything about that. I think at least we owe the Free Syrian Army, negate the air attacks that they will be subjected to when they finish their training and equipping, and go into the fight. So why is it that we wont at least news release Bashar al Assads air activity which has slaughtered thousands and thousands and thousands, 192,000 dead, 3 million refugees, and were not going to do anything about Assads air capabilities? And finally, ISIL first, thats what youre telling these young men who really view Assad as the one who has slaughtered their family members. Not ISIL. As bad as ISIL is. How do you square that circle action Mr. Secretary?
Kerry: Well, you square it this way, Senator. And first of all, let me just say a word. I think everybody knows I had the pleasure of working with Robert Ford in the department from the day I arrived there. We worked very closely together, I have huge respect and admiration for him. And he and I worked many long hours with the Syrian opposition. And I respect his opinion, et cetera. He is correct that they wont stop fighting the Assad regime. I understand that we understand that.
McCain: Not only wont stop fighting, its their primary goal.
Kerry: Well, it is, except
McCain: I know too many of them, John.
Kerry: I understand. It is. Im not denying that. But they also are fighting ISIL. Theyre up in Aleppo right now fighting ISIL. Theyre fighting ISIL in other places. They threw them out of a province. They are engaged in fighting ISIL. And our belief is, I think I bet you, I hope Robert Ford believes that they believe they actually get stronger as a result of ISIL being removed from the field.
McCain: Are you not going to protect them from air strikes?
Kerry: I think what we need yes, and I think what we need thats a legitimate concern. And it is a concern that I would need to address with you in a classified session for reasons I think you well understand. And I think Robert ford well understands that.
McCain: I think the Free Syrian Army would like to understand, too.
Kerry: If we have a good classified session and another good things happen here, who knows. The important thing is for us to recognize that if ISIL continues doing what its doing I think you know this without being stopped and if we hadnt stood up when we did and work with Peshmerga and help them, they were threatening Baghdad and they were threatening more. If they did that
McCain: Were talking about Syria. And the Free Syrian Army.
Kerry: Im about to come back
McCain: Thank you. Im running out of time.
Kerry: That pertains to their capacity then to focus on Assad and it might be not the Free Syrian Army but ISIL that you see in Damascus. And ISIL bringing other people to them because of the level of their success. Clearly, many people have told us in the region, success breeds success. And many of the people who have come to ISIL have come because it seemed as if they were werent being opposed. We believe that transition works to the benefit of the moderate opposition, works ultimately to all of our benefit by removing ISIL from the field.
McCain: You cannot ask people to go and fight and die unless you promise them that they you will defeat their enemy and defeat them right away. You cant say, wait until we defeat ISIL. People will not volunteer for such things.
Kerry: I dont believe its going to be ultimately a wait and see. I dont believe, number one, that the people supporting the opposition in various parts of the region are ever going to stop until the Assad problem is resolves. Number two, I dont believe ISIL is going I dont believe that the moderate opposition will obviously stop in that effort. So, therefore, there will be these two prongs.
McCain: I hope not ISIL first, if that message is not given to these brave young people.
Kerry: If we dont stop ISIL first, there may not be much left of the other prong.
McCain: That means we cant take on two adversaries at once thats bogus and false.
There you have it. McCain didnt even try to hide his cards here. He wants the United States to not only send American troops to Iraq to fight ISIS. He also wants this country to get involved in a massive civil war in Syria that is being fought on several fronts. McCain just doesnt want to hear any crap about America not having the capability to fight multiple adversaries at once. No way, Jose! In McCains worldview, the United States needs to be involved with as many wars as possible.
cont'
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/09/17/john-mccain-dangerously-insists-full-scale-middle-east-war-isis-senate-hearing.html
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)roguevalley
(40,656 posts)was so his son could 'have his war' just like he did, his dad did and his g. dad did. (WWI WWII and Vietnam)
What is it with fucking stupid republicans who want to put their kids in war? Teddy Roosevelt wasn't content to put his kids in WWI, he put them in the front. Quentin was killed. He was killed by his old man, a pompous fucked up windbag. I don't care what he did or accomplished. He killed his son by 'securing postings for (him) them as close to the front as they could be".
Behold, the Republican mindset.
kardonb
(777 posts)send him over to fight Isis with an old muzzle-loader and war paint ! TODAY , since he is always so fond of war .
delrem
(9,688 posts)The USA has never been involved!
NEVER!
The USA has never wanted to bomb Syria, but only now it's forced to! Forced to, for the cause of GOOD. The cause of democracy, freedom, and Jesus.
The USA has no connection with "Friends of Syria" like Saudi Arabia and Qatar and the "free" mercenary armies. Suggestions otherwise are meaningless!
Segami
(14,923 posts)Then why the f**k didn't you direct the SAME statement to the Bush Cabal when they were scamming the nation into war?.....oh yea,...thats right,...you were just another lame war-mongering weasel republican who was MIA!!
Sit down and STFU McCain!
Paladin
(28,243 posts)mulsh
(2,959 posts)change now?
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)pampango
(24,692 posts)is just an excuse to do nothing."
Here's to being thankful that he is not the president and Commander-in-Chief.
misterhighwasted
(9,148 posts)A Simple Game
(9,214 posts)Last edited Thu Sep 18, 2014, 07:30 PM - Edit history (1)
edit for stupid spelling mistake.
misterhighwasted
(9,148 posts)Sara todd track trick truck & Bristle with her hefty hook. YeeHawww mama!
malaise
(268,664 posts)for mental health issues. He still wants vengeance for his POW situation.
Before that he was a reckless entitled 'duncified' prick and he's even worse now.
Of course now he's owned by the MIC.
karynnj
(59,495 posts)He looked like he was about to explode.
YvonneCa
(10,117 posts)...attitude with great humor. He ended by saying how they both joined the fight...debate...and it was pretty clear they had done this before.
karynnj
(59,495 posts)McCain was agitated and sputtering. Kerry's answers given politely with a hint of a smile. Kerry's entire hearing was very good - from the respectful, but strong way he spoke to Code Pink - rather than just ignoring them and letting the police deal with them, to his careful opening statement to the respect he showed all the committee members as he seriously answered the questions they had. That this was his committee was seen by random comments and by things like at least one Republican Senator calling him John, which seemed friendly, not disrespectful.
Menendez at points was annoying as he seemed to want to be the most important guy in the room --- when he wasn't. This was clearest in his comment calling Kerry and McCain colleagues equating them in their argument - leading to Kerry's joking about it and laughing it off. (To me it was good to see Kerry, who was "on" for the entire q&a had the ability to shift out of serious and thoughtful to showing the excellent sense of humor that he has.)
YvonneCa
(10,117 posts)...was red and he almost sputtered when he spoke.
Secretary Kerry OTOH, was in his element. It's pretty clear he believes in this policy and is enjoying its implementation.
I've been watching the House hearing this morning. If anything, Kerry was MORE confident and effective there. And most congress folks have shown him respect...way more than in the Senate hearing yesterday.
I think they are starting to hear him...starting to understand how Obama/Kerry FP is different than GWBs. He is teaching them, and they are learning. JMHO.
misterhighwasted
(9,148 posts)Johonny
(20,817 posts)We are told ISIS is stronger than the army we dumped millions into training and arming. The solution we are told is to fight for freedom while buying time to train and arm yet another army. Holy crap why is ISIS stronger than the army we created for them already?
Segami
(14,923 posts)by John McBlame!
bvf
(6,604 posts)or we are being lied to, or both.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Actually, it all fits if you believe the United States is an Empire and OWNS the planet.
bvf
(6,604 posts)sakabatou
(42,134 posts)randys1
(16,286 posts)like W and Cheney and Limbaugh and O'Reilly and Hannity and others, that the enemy would have killed them or their own men would have and we would not have the legacy of these terrible human beings and the horrific harm they have caused, the deaths and so on.
Hannity would not have fought in Vietnam but surely the first Iraq War, but like the others he was afraid to fight but insisted others do.
But McCain did fight and didnt learn a single fucking thing, did he.
Calista241
(5,585 posts)1. Can we beat ISIS solely by bombing them?
2. If we use a surrogate force to engage ISIS on the ground, are they really going to fight them effectively?
3. If we train and equip a surrogate force, will they eventually fight us after the conflict with ISIS?
4. Who the hell are these people we're proposing to train? Are they like the Middle East's version of Blackwater?
I actually understand McCain's reservations of the President's strategy. If we have made the decision to go ahead and eliminate ISIS, we might as well suck it up and do it.
In addition, ISIS now knows we're coming for them, and they have months to prepare while we equip and train a force to go after them. This situation is likely to be 10x worse because we're giving them all this time to prepare, and we're going to send a half assed force after them.
My fear is that airpower alone will not be able to accomplish our goals, and local forces will be unable to achieve what we want them to. Do we then decide to commit our soldiers? What happens then?
green917
(442 posts)With some questions of my own:
1. What evidence do we have that ISIS or ISIL or the Assad regime, for that matter, are any threat to the United States or our assets in the region?
2. Are you really suggesting that we get our troops involved in what has become a very bloody and extremely contentious civil war in Syria (as senator McCain is clearly advocating)?
3. Your third question is a poignant one that needs to be answered before we commit any resources of any kind to this engagement!
4. Your 4th point is also a poignant one that should be answered before we do anything!
Sen. McCain is out of his fucking mind if he believes we should put troops either back into Iraq or
, worse, into Syria! We have no idea who these "moderate" rebels in Syria really are and yet we are going to give them training and weapons and, if some in congress get their way, military support and troops. I seem to remember that tactic working out poorly for us with the mujahadin in Afghanistan.
Calista241
(5,585 posts)Who doesn't wish for heady days of American Marines rampaging across a few countries, consequences be damned!
Due to our experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq, I can see the value in electing to do whatever needs to be done ourselves, rather than spending years training the natives so they can blissfully fail at whatever they decide to try and do.
However, I lean more towards the side of letting them have at each other. Let someone else take up the policeman role for awhile and let the world (and us) bitch about their competence and heavy handed tactics.
green917
(442 posts)On the matter! We need to stop playing world police!
KoKo
(84,711 posts)Ukraine President Poroshenko Addresses Congress/Pleads for Military Help With Europe & America's War
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017215908
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)VA_Jill
(9,940 posts)is living proof of what my mama always said--"When people start losing it, they just get more like themselves." I've been saying for the last 3 years that he has definite signs of Alzheimer's and everybody's covering for him.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)with his dying breath.
El Shaman
(583 posts)should have been gone way back when:
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1989-11-29/news/mccain-the-most-reprehensible-of-the-keating-five/