McCain: I would have started Iraq war regardless of WMD

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: Raw Story

According to presidential candidate John McCain, only the handling of the Iraq war was a mistake -- not the war itself.

"It's not American presence that bothers the American people, it's American causalities," said McCain in an interview with Tim Russert on NBC's "Meet The Press" on Sunday.

When Russert asked him if, like Bush, McCain would have supported the Iraq war even if no weapons of mass destruction were believed present in Iraq, McCain seemed to dismiss the question as irrelevant.

"If frogs had wings ... we can talk about lots of hypotheticals," he said. "The point is if we had done it right, you and I wouldn't even be discussing it now."

Read more: http://rawstory.com/news/2007/McCain_I_would_have_started_Iraq_0106.html

[xchrom]

1. to a certain extent he is exactly right -- americans have no qualms about killing innocent people --

they have qualms about losing or their children being killed or money, etc.

this country has never gone very long with out a war.

[acmavm]

7. Wealthy Americans have no problems starting wars if it's to their own

benefit. Their children don't fight (if they are republicans).

Millions of Americans felt damn plently during Viet Nam. What the hell kind of remark was that?

Don't paste us all with you broad brush of cynicism and greed. You are either too young to remember the 70s, or you came/come from a republican family.

You are basically clueless if you think you can lump all Americans together and think you sound like you know what you're talking about.

[springhill]

20. She wasn't talking about you personally.............

and I have to agree with xchrom, most Americans, I believe, are detatched from the consequences of war and it actually makes them feel good, as sick as that sounds. You ought to read Chris Hedges book, "War is a force that gives us Meaning". I think he explains it in a way that I cannot.

[struggle4progress]

24. Last I looked, xchrom wuz a him

[springhill]

28. Wow...........

that really added a lot to the conversation.

[struggle4progress]

30. Always glad to help

:D

[frogcycle]

55. as did that

snark

[xchrom]

46. i was in the draft buddy -- don't tell me i don't know what the fuck i'm talking about --

and you go back study amrican history, your ignorance.

we can't go fifty YEARS without a war and the citizens of this country have been plenty bloody minded -- from slavery to the wars with first nations people to the war in the philipines -- the spanish american war -- the war with mexico -- the first world war -- the citizens doing PLENTY of cheerleading -- i was in chicago and new york protesting the war in viet nam watching my friends getting beaten up hard hats off of construction yards -- our fellow CITIZENS.

fuck that i don't know what i'm talking about? -- who turned out by the many, many thousands in their sunday best to watch lynchings? our fellow citizens -- yes indeed -- we americans are a bloody bloody crew -- get used to reality, bub.

[Divine Discontent]

48. they know that economically (esp for them) that bloodshed increases their wealth

through the treasury. I have a sticker made for that very point. They are sick bastards. Thanks for your fighting with me on the good guy side!

take care

[xchrom]

49. we americans have a shadow on our soul.

liberals -- when we talk about race begin to see some of it.

but talk about it in terms of violence and our collective agreement to it -- even some lust for it -- and people lose their minds.

but violence and cruelty are as much a part of the human spirit as anything else -- but our detachment from history keeps us from getting at the uncomfortable truth.

[coalition_unwilling]

68. Violence is as American as cherry pie (with apologies to

H. Rap Brown)

[acmavm]

52. I'm so IMPRESSED by you idiot rant that I have to hand it to you. Your's

is one of the dumbest I've read in a while. And don't call me 'buddy' or tell me to go back to school. I understand perfectly well what has happened during the history of this country. I also understand perfectly well that there have been massive peace movements throughout the entire history of this country. I also understand that it is the powers-that-be backed by the wealthy corporatists that have been at the bottom of almost all of this country's problems.

See things anyway you want Jackson. And just so you know, my Dad with in the Navy, my brother John was in the Air Force, my brother Bob was in the Army, and my brother Tommy was in the Marines. I'm not at all impressed by you claims of being a vet, my family has been there, done that. In fact, millions of Americans have been in the service. You ain't the only one.

[xchrom]

58. you climb up my ass -- and i'm gonna call you buddy, Miss Jackson.

you're wrong -- our peace movements -- with the exception of the sixties and iraq redux -- because of the draft and newly educated populace -- have never been massive.

they have been persistant -- but it is simply a lie -- outside of those two examples -- to call them massive.

this country -- it's citizens have been bloody minded -- and all your pissing and moaning won't change the fact that from the earliest settlements on -- we have been all about shedding blood.

you have a misguided view of american history -- and american people and that's just sad.

crack a history book before you start to lecture people with your ignorance.

[acmavm]

64. Whatever you say boss. You're a screamin' idiot and nothing

will change that. And I don't care. So bye bye.

[xchrom]

65. ...

:rofl:

[springhill]

67. xchrom.........

You are so right..........as of the last poll taken, 55% of this country were okay with attacking Iran. Like I said, war makes a lot of people feel good about their country.

[Skittles]

80. I hate it when people tout how their family served

as a defense.....close but no cigar

[LeftishBrit]

8. It's the leaders not the people. And it's not just Americans.

I should know - our darling Tony has said similar stuff to McCain. "It was the right thing to do." Ugh.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/the_blair_years/article2886547.ece

[FiveGoodMen]

70. If it WERE the leaders and not the people...

...then one dumb-assed comment like this and McCain wouldn't have 3 voters left on his side. He'd be instantly out of the race.

Bush started a war for no reason with a 90% approval rating. Now that it hasn't worked out so well, a lot of folks have changed their minds.

But if the people were truly against this sort of thing, then the warmongers wouldn't even get 10% of the vote.

I have relatives with bumper stickers that say, "I support George Bush AND his war!"

Sure there are (numerically) plenty of us who oppose imperialism, but those on this thread who want to lay all of the blame on a few politicians aren't even close to getting it.

The point: this sort of thing will never stop happening until something changes the minds of the 60 million who voted for Bush after the Iraq invasion had failed to turn up any WMDs (and after F911's clip showing Pretzel Boy joking about it!)

[Warren Stupidity]

2. Another example of the stunning nutcrackery over there.

Each and every one of those buffoons needs a padded cell.

[Journeyman]

3. I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. . . .

I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL." And I started jumpin up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL." And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me, sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."



Arlo Guthrie, Alice's Restaurant

[yy4me]

4. McCain, GO HOME, you're too tired to think straight.

If we did it right we would not have been there in the first place.

[superconnected]

5. McCain admits he's a mass murderer at heat and will be in practice.

Diplomacy is only something mediocre to great politicians use. This is a imbecilic thug holding office.

What an embarassment to America.

[ananda]

6. Poor McCain.

Maybe it's senile dementia.

He's utterly insane.

[saigon68]

12. He suffers from depression

And like his step-daddy the chimp he's "not too bright'

[saigon68]

61. MY DADDY

[colorado_ufo]

72. "Who's ya daddy?"

I think it's obvious.

It's also a shame. McCain seems to be a good man whose history of imprisonment, health problems, stresses, as well as age and other factors, have changed him into something so much less than he could have been.

If he did acquire the presidency, by some means, it would kill him.

[TankLV]

39. He was a POW - he was tortured - he's damaged goods because of it...

End of story...

I feel sorry for the guy - but he should be in a nut house getting therepy - not in the senate or running for president.

He's NUTS...without a doubt...

[TwilightGardener]

9. This will doom him. America knows the war was a mistake. He's doomed.

[jayfish]

37. I'd Be Willing To Bet That Raw Story...

is the first and last place you will here of this. The media needs its' "comeback kid" story and they wouldn't dare endanger it by asking Johny about this rubbish.

Jay

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. Because that's what they actually did. That's how it'll be written

up in the history books. The nuance will all be forgotten & the facts remain.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

The worst part for me is NOT the fact that they DID it...

...it's the fact that they DID it and LAUGHED about it later.

"Those weapons of mass destruction gotta be somewhere"...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjXPOxnu2N8

Despite the hundreds of chilling images of the Iraq war, this is STILL the one that hits me the hardest EVERY time I see it:

Mays, a young Iraqi Shi'ite girl, cries after a mortar shell which landed outside her home in Najaf injured her uncle August 18, 2004. Explosions and sniper fire echoed from around holy sites in Najaf on Thursday, raising doubts that a radical Shi'ite cleric would end a bloody uprising and leave his sanctuary in a sacred shrine. REUTERS/Ali Jasim



http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0819-02.htm

So FUCK McCain. He did his time in the Hanoi Hilton and he was, is, and will forever be a war hero.

He's also a dangerous prick who shouldn't be allowed within spitting distance of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

:patriot:

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. I kept saying, if you want you god damn war then have your god damn war

just don't lie to me about it.

[Javaman]

11. So why is this statement so controversial? it's exactly what moron* did. nt

[Amerigo Vespucci]

14. Yeah, absolutely, he did it...

...and McCain is aligning himself with it, so he'll get the voters who feel that it was a wise decision. He'll burn the bridge to everyone else.

[Faygo Kid]

15. And then he, too, would have been a war criminal

Crimes against humanity: Ironic that an ex-POW is such a warmonger.

[Red Zelda]

16. Pure McInsane

This bizarre nutcase needs to be locked up somewhere. This is the most dangerous madman on the political scene.

[donkeyotay]

17. Er, let's recap. Bush wanted to invade Iraq. The American people said no.

Then Bush LIED to the American people about WMD to sufficiently tamp down the opposition in order to achieve war. So, McCain doesn't have a problem with that?

[grytpype]

18. He's nuts.

EOM

[Ian David]

19. Saddam stole his strawberries! n/t

[coalition_unwilling]

69. This I think must be a reference to Herman Wouk's "The Caine Mutiny"?

If so, you're insulting Queeg by the comparison. (OK, maybe it's not too much of an insult. But at least Queeg wasn't an out-and-out war criminal.)

[BlueStater]

21. So he just admitted on live television that he would commit a war crime

I really can't stand this fucker. God help us if he's the nominee.

[Hissyspit]

22. The American presence SHOULD bother them, dickhead. But never mind morality

or the rule of law.

[kurth]

23. Why did the North Vietnamese release this warmongering pig

[WheelWalker]

51. Because he walked up to his guard, and said,

"Dude, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL." And he started jumpin up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and his guard started jumpin up and down with him and they was both jumping up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL." And the prison commandant came over, took him out to the airport and sent him back to America, said, "Get your ass out of here you crazy fuck. You're a bad influence on the peaceful people of Viet Nam."

[tabasco]

25. Yeah! Because of all those Iraqis that attacked us on 9-11!

All of these warmongering, war-profiteering republican cretins will BURN IN HELL!

[goforit]

26. Alzhiemers is his only excuse!

[DeeDeeNY]

27. I think McCain is still using the Swift Boat ad team for his campaign

This is from last year:

http://www.correntewire.com/saint_john_mccain_hires_swift_boat_team

[Algorem]

29. uh.PSYCHO!!!

[Jacobin]

31. In fairness, McCain also thinks invading Viet Nam was a good thing

So, clearly he is utterly fucking nuts and should be ignored or pitied.

[anitar1]

32. McCain is too okd and does not look well.

He has a history of cancer and god forbid, his VP choice could become president.Jeb Bush??

[ixion]

33. proving that he's just as psychotic as the rest of them

pathetic.

[MasonJar]

34. McCain is delusional.

[formercia]

35. That man is sick.

The Manchurian Candidate.

[enki23]

36. i smell desperation

.

[geomon666]

38. Sick disgusting bastard.

McCain you're a damn disgrace.

[boricua79]

57. hey...where did you get those political posters on your signature?

They're cool. Would like to get bigger ones.

[geomon666]

74. From one of my favorite band's site.

http://www.aperfectcircle.com

They're in random order though so you have to keep refreshing to get them all.

[proud2BlibKansan]

40. I think McCain is crazy. Something happened to him when he was a POW

I honestly don't see how anyone comes out of that kind of a situation without a few mental problems. Can they recover? Sure. I had a good friend who was a POW in Vietnam and he said it took time and counseling but he finally got to the point where he could sleep through the night.

My dad told me that in WWII, the soldiers were told they would be better off dead than in a German POW camp and some of his fellow soldiers shot themselves rather than allow the Germans to capture them. And he used to wonder if McCain had really recovered from his POW experience.

The other thing that drives me nuts about McCain is how he allowed Rove to go after his wife and child in 2000 and not only didn't fight back but made nicey nice with Bush once Bush was the nominee. That's frickin insane.

[Tab]

41. This guy is a loon

It IS the American presence that bothers us, not just the casualties, and what it's done to our military, our budget, and the Iraqi people, and our standing in the world.

If McCain can't understand that, he shouldn't be a Senator, much less President.

[alfredo]

42. Never forget this

[deacon]

43. The loon wanted ground troops in Kosovo too. n/t

[Zorra]

44. Cuz Elmer Fudd wuvs to hunt those wascally wabbits. n/t

[ckramer]

45. John McCain is a sick man

I can't believe what he has said in the Fox interview.

[MidwestTransplant]

47. Good to know. See ya in the general election.

[MilesColtrane]

50. Screw national security, world standing, the rule of law, and morality.

I'll bet that he would have done it just for the torture.

I can see McCain pumping a wizened fist, "Payback's a bitch baby!"

[LynnTheDem]

53. Honor.

McCain has none, and has no problem with America losing whatever honor it used to have.

Why bother with honor, when the super-rich can get richer by the poor killing & being killed to invade other nations to steal their resources. While it's true tis type of behaviour causes a "surge" in worldwide hatred towards us and makes us all very much less safe, the super-rich can afford lots of protection.

And it's good for us all, as the super-rich will "trickle down" their crumbs for the rest of Americans to scavenge, so what's the problem?

Honor. It's what America had. Once upon a time.

[chknltl]

54. He better be careful with all that war talk....

...now that Chuck Norris has come to America's rescue! It ain't no real war unless the Chuckster says so!. :patriot:

[boricua79]

56. ""It's not American presence that bothers the American people, it's American causalities,"

He's probably right...and screw the American people if he is. We do not have the right to occupy people at will...and if we believe that, we're no better than the Nazis."

"The point is if we had done it right, you and I wouldn't even be discussing it now."

If we had cleaned up the shit fast enough, Mommy wouldn't have seen that we made a mess".

A mess is still a mess...and it's still wrong, Mr. McCain.

No soul, no morals, no values....John McCain

[geiger]

59. YUCK, what a shill

[sakabatou]

60. What McCain needs is a...

[Festivito]

62. Who needs a reason to go to war. We should just... BE THERE.

The millions of dead and wounded.. just an accident of US candidacy or presidency or fuzzy math or WHATEVER!?.

Which, if it hadn't happened we wouldn't be discussing it now, so let's not discuss it now.

We can talk about lots of hypotheticals but let's not since there are so many possible hypotheticals.

..why am I laughing while typing? ..

[Gen. Jack D. Ripper]

63. He supports illegal wars

simple as that. Many in the this country view international policy/law as a formality which we need obey only when it is convenient. Hell, McCain, and like minded individuals, have the same attitude toward the United States Constitution, at times.

[Vinca]

66. The 'pukes are trying to out-testosterone each other.

How manly, John. Nothing like attacking a country that did nothing to us in order to compensate for anatomical shortfalls.

[TankLV]

71. No you fucking senile asswipe: It's the ILLEGAL WAR OF CHOICE BASED ON LIES that we have a problem

with...

I don't care if the war were somehow miraculously to result in something good - which it never can - I would still be against it BECAUSE IT WAS STARTED ON A LIE, BY THE LOSER IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, AND HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH 911...

[humbled_opinion]

73. Sure lets just blow them all up ....

Is that the message... Mess with US and get blown away... Turn the ME into a glass parking lot.... hmmm Will nuclear weapons detonated over the Middle East substanitaly increase global warming?

:nuke:

[truthisfreedom]

75. Well, to give him credit, he didn't exactly say that. But he shot himself in the foot by not being

more clear in his response. Does it matter? He's hopeless as a candidate. All of the 'thugs are.

[Cha]

76. mcain is fucking murdering asshole

and wants to be our president so bad he's salivating.

It's all about the oil and keeping the military complex's war machine buzzin' with them.

[scarface2004]

77. good...let s blow the shit out of luxemburg then!!

that little country chaps my ass! mckane screamed. it wouldn t take more than a couple of weeks to kill them allllllllll!

[southerncross48]

78. McCain Owes Amerika

didn't Johnny Boy once sign out for an Amerikan airplane and not return it. I imagine the interest alone would bankrupt the dilusionl pig. How many more body bags you F'in loser!!!!

[Skittles]

79. Skittles: McCain is still a bush whore

:puke:

[bdamomma]

81. another sick SOB.