We have a winner! Give Joe Klein a cigar!
He has identified the essential nonsense of McCain's complaints that his "100 years in Iraq" comments have been taken out of context.
The context is the problem!
Even if we accept his explanation that he was advocating a non-combat military commitment like that in South Korea, Germany or Okinawa, it's still a stupid statement. Iraq is not Okinawa. Nor is it South Korea. Al Qaeda had no right (obviously) to murder American civilians, but lets not forget that they did so in response to our military presence in the middle east. 100 combat free years is not going to happen. It just isn't that kind of place.
Yes, it's true that Japan, Germany, and North Korea had to be beaten militarily before we got to the point where we could have a peaceful military presence. But we have already beaten Iraq militarily.
We are five brutal, grinding, deadly years into this occupation, which is a longer time than it took to defeat both Japan and Germany in World War II, and longer than it took us to conclude the "hot" portion of the Korean War.
So saying in essence "I don't have a problem keeping troops in Iraq for 1oo years as long as they aren't fighting and dying" is either stupid or it's intentional obfuscation. Take your pick and vote accordingly.
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6 comments:
Obama wants to leave 60,000 to 80,000 troops in Iraq as well.
I'd say that "if Iraq is not that kind of place" 80,000 troops will only make things worse. If we can keep 80,000 troops there a week, we can keep them there 100 years.
Is Obama stupid, or engaging in intentional obfuscation?
I tried explaining these important facts of life to a self-described (and apparently self-deluded) "Libetarian" who supports the Iraq War the other night, and I have come to the conclusion that there is a physical defect in the brain that simply does not allow many people of a conservative political bent to grasp and accept reality. No matter how many ways I explained the differences between Iraq and Korea, this person would not accept the facts. Of course, he hadn't even been aware that Bin Laden claimed to have planned 9/11 because of our military presence in Saudi Arabia, so you can see what I was up against.
If it helps, I did convince him of one important thing: that Jeremiah Wright's more or less meaningless sermons received an overabundance of media coverage in comparison to John McCain's ongoing confusion about who's doing what in Iraq. If Reverend Wright were Obama's running mate, then yes, perhaps his divisive words might be of concern to me; otherwise I'm more woried about what the ACTUAL CANDIDATE has to say! This concept - which should be a reality for everyone casting a vote on Election Day - was apparently simple enough for my "Libetarian" friend to comprehend. Go figure.
Anonymous #1: Obama's own official statements are that he will pull out, and concentrate troops on protecting our diplomats and fighting Al Queda. I got that direct from him, at his web site.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/
Want me to believe you over Obama? Then link, please. Otherwise, I don't buy it. And if the link you provide is to a partisan hack site, I still won't buy it.
The Reverand Wright roller coaster was a test. The test was to see if the media could take a non-issue and spin it into a cause of patriotism, or rather to imply that Obama was not patriotic enough if he barely paid attention to the sermons of Rev. Wright.
Has anyone been to an African-American church? It is a sight to behold. Everyone is dressed in their Sunday best, even poor women break out the nicest dress they have ever worn. There are random calls from the parishioners, exortations of Jesus, dancing in the pews, standing and sitting, gospel singing, until everyone is worked up into a civil frenzy, and people leave the church feeling that for a few moments they were closer to their god.
Personally, probably like Obama, staying awake through the entire service is the real challenge or not letting one's mind drift to more pressing matters.
The reverand could say "not god bless America, but god damn America, and I'd probably yell out hallaluha, without a clue of what I'm yelling about.
Don't let McCain explain away what he initially meant. He said he didn't care if we are there for 100 years, 1000 years, or more. He wants to stay in Iraq indefinitely and Americans want out. He is out of step with the electorate and this truth must be made clear - over and over and over again.
Shade Tail:
If you believe what ANY politician says on his propaganda site (and then discount partisan hack sites, as if barackobama.com were a source of truth), you're hopeless.
Try google news (Obama 60,000 troops), and then pick something like US News:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_080404.htm
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