McCain Clarifies: First Gulf War, Not This One, About Oil
PHOENIX - Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) clarified his comments Friday after suggesting the Iraq war was motivated by U.S. reliance on foreign oil.
His explanation: He was talking about the 1991 Persian Gulf War, not the current conflict.
It was the second time in as many days that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee had to clear up his comments. On Thursday, he backed off his assertion that pork-barrel spending led to last year’s deadly bridge collapse in Minneapolis.
At issue Friday was a comment at a morning town hall meeting in Denver, when he said his energy policy would eliminate U.S. dependence on Middle East oil and would “prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.”
He sought to clarify his comments after his campaign plane landed in Phoenix. He said he didn’t mean the U.S. went to war in Iraq five years ago over oil.
“No, no, I was talking about that we had fought the Gulf War for several reasons,” McCain told reporters.
One reason was Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, he said.
“But also we didn’t want him to have control over the oil, and that part of the world is critical to us because of our dependency on foreign oil, and it’s more important than any other part of the world,” he said.
“I want us to remove our dependency on foreign oil for national security reasons, and that’s all I mean,” McCain said.
Regarding the current conflict, he said, “The Congressional Record is very clear: I said we went to war in Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction.”
McCain is a staunch supporter of the Iraq war, although he criticizes the early handling of it by the Bush administration.
His support for the war has drawn attacks from the Democratic Party, and on Friday, McCain defended himself against television ads that accuse him of advocating a 100-year war in Iraq.
The ads, run by the Democratic National Committee and the liberal group MoveOn.org., tie McCain to President Bush and cite McCain’s comments that there could be an American military presence in Iraq for 100 years.
“One hundred years in Iraq? And you thought no one could be worse than George Bush,” an announcer says in the most recent ad, run by MoveOn.org.
McCain brought up the commercials in Denver, saying they were lies. He said he had clearly been referring to a possible peacekeeping force and not a centurylong war.
“It’s a direct falsification, and I’m sorry that political campaigns have to deteriorate in this fashion, because there’s legitimate differences between myself” and the Democratic presidential candidates on Iraq, McCain said.
They want to set a date for withdrawal, which he says would lead to chaos and genocide in the Middle East.
“After we win the war in Iraq, and we are succeeding — and it’s long and hard and tough, with enormous sacrifices — then I’m talking about a security arrangement that may or may not be the same kind of thing we had with Korea after the Korean War,” he said.
The ads stemmed from McCain’s answer, in January, to a question about Bush’s theory that troops could be in Iraq for 50 years.
McCain said: “Maybe 100. As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, that’d be fine with me, and I hope it would be fine with you, if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where Al Qaeda is training, recruiting, equipping and motivating people every single day.”
© 2008 Associated Press
I repeat the “Stright Talk Express” does not drive in a straight line. It weaves across lanes. Johnny Bomb Bomb lies to people.
Haaa Haaa Haaa, the first Gulf War was because of control of the Iraqi and Kuwait oil, but not the current five year long war.
Nope, this current illegal war was because of the WMDs that were never there. ___ Haa ha ha. Except it isn’t funny Senator McCain and you and I and everyone with any brains knows it’s for contol of the Mid-East oil, just as Greenspan wrote it was.
You aren’t going to clarify anything. You fumbled your words as 72 year old men like myself may do on occasion. You blurted out the truth. You said the war in Iraq was for oil and you were 100% correct. No clariffication is necessary. Why don’t you drop out of the race and let Ron Paul run against Obama or Hillary?
Scary. He reminds me of Ronald Reagan - you know, the President with Alzheimers. I remember when Reagan was governor of California, and his press secretary, Lyn Nofziger was constantly following the governor around, telling the press “That isn’t what the governor meant”. There are alarming similarities in the mental processes of these two men.
Just for fun, a link to a site of Reagan’s “Reign of Errors”. It brought back memories, since I had the unfortunate experience of being a California resident when he was governor, and includes many comments by international heads of state regarding his mental faculties as president. I wonder what they will be saying about Bush. I hope they won’t have an opportunity to make future comments about McCain. I hope Hillary stops making that a possibility.
http://www.geocities.com/thereaganyears/reaganquotes.htm
kathyodat
Hey Kem, if McCain dropped out Ron Paul just might win.
kathyodat
McCain might be better than we thought. He could have his wife loan the government 100 million to help pay for oil war when the Chinese and Saudi`s won`t give us any more money.
McCain is so confused he doesn`t even know which century he is in and is not likely to improve. Look for a real interesting four years ahead if he gets in.
Typical War Hawk,
Whenever they accidentally tell the truth, they have to clarify with a purposeful lie.
Right on kathyodat, Ron Paul said out of the three, Obama is the best chance to end the war.
So I guess we should be happy that he is only half as delusional as the current occupant of the white House. Somehow though I am not reassured.
I’d have more respect for “Straight Talk” McCain if he would say,
“Of course, this war is about controlling oil. Our responsibility as Americans is to do what’s best for America, and that’s securing permanent access to oil. Our economy and way of life depend on it. That’s what makes this war worth fighting. That’s what justifies the casualties we have suffered. That’s what justifies a hundred-year occupation, until the oil is gone. If we leave Iraq, we open the way for others to penetrate the country politically and economically and cut us off from that oil. Then we’d be paying $10 or $15 per gallon instead of $3 or $4. Do I want American companies to profit from our occupation? You bet! I’d rather have American companies profit than Iraqi, Chinese, French, Russian or Indonesian. To quote the great Calvin Coolidge, ‘The business of America is business.’”
A speech that honest might rally support for the war, for a little while, and improve his standing in the polls. Go for it McCain!
It would be hilarious if it weren’t so sad. It’s vegetable to vegetable at this point.
~Hi Poet~ The scary thing is, he may be more delusional and war mongering than Bush.
Yay, someone said Ron Paul! ooOOOooo, it’d be good if he were the republican candidate. There is no WAY he would get elected, or selected, or whatever that is that happens, imagine, if he were to get in and trim defense spending to the level required to defend, unemployment would reach at least 20% in most states! Get Ron Paul on the ballot and on the TV and let Diebold sit back and watch this one play out.
I hope it would be fine with you, if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world
MICain’s rhetoric is evil because it is exactly the US presence/influence creating the volatility in the Middle East. Without US influence on the world, the demand for Middle East oil and the security costs would be moderate, and the US contribution to the radicalization of Islam would be minimal. Without the extreme demand for oil largely driven by the US, the infighting among the tribes and sects of the Middle East would be much less exploitable as a pretext for US imperialism. The zionist enterprise impinges in a similar way.
Armed with the truth as stated above, Americans can disengage from the capitalist, zionist, imperialist propaganda matrix and start to become part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Shift your exchange/association away from the power centers and toward your local community. This will limit your energy consumption to that which can be sustainably produced by small independent local farmers and craftsmen. Only when you severely restrict your exchange/association with the power centers can you become part of the solution.
My head has been exploding over the glacial public/media recognition of the obvious.
Iraq = A military midget with no friends sitting on a sea of money.
For a capitalist, money driven society we sure don’t catch on quickly, do we?
The First Great War For Petroleum was conducted by Secretary of War Cheney and President Bush (The First) who looted Arab treasuries to pay for it.
This Second Great War For Patroeum is being conducted by President of Vice Cheney and President Bush (The Second) who are looting American and allied treasuries to pay for it.
Are there any treasuries remaining for a President McBush (The Third) to loot?
Whatfools,
Maybe McBush already knows or will be told the Federal Reserve (private Central bankers) will just keep printing the money as long as foreign nations buy the bonds until the dollar is too risky and worthless.
When that happens his wife’s 100 millions will let them last a little longer than us but her accountants will probably advise her to exchange to China’s currency before they lose it all.
Then They with Bushes and pals the Clintons can find some safe haven to hide out.
Hey, Why an I giving them Ideas?
I am Sorry! Time to take a break in my bomb shelter.
McCain’s mind will be shattered by the events of the near future. He will be rendered silent by ignorance.
Ok so the first gulf war was about oil, and we didn’t finish the job. So does that mean that this one was about something else? What else? We went to war over a lie? Seems that if that’s the case somebody should be criminally tried in court.
This doddering old fool McCain doesn’t seem to know whats happening in the world. I agree with the above post by BeForKids, This fool acts like ronald reagan more and more every day. Maybe he thinks that the yellow brick road full of the B.S. and feel good speaches that reagan took is the way to the white house.
God protect us from fools and patriots.
KEMPATRICK …..i thought you were around my age (42) man you still have it (mind wise) at 70 years old..i hope i’m like you 30 years from now….keep up the good work !
militantliberal…..mccain would never say anything like that……that’s polictical suicide…..do you really think that american companies would only profit…….WHAT ABOUT GREAT BRITAIN,AUSTRAILIA,ITALY.ETC
Well JLOVER ya see, when I turned 55 I needed a lot of dental work and it was going to cost $3,500. I got a whole new head transplamt for $1,800 teeth included. Only problem was the one I got went bald.
Hey there ~BIG MOONEY~, you think the economy would suffer under a Ron Paul?
Ya think it’s doing so great now? Haaa haaaaaaaaa, ha. Wait a few more months and especially if Bush or McCain bombs Iran. Our economy is already in the toilet and Bush has his hand on the flusher. The money we spend for defense is fine, the money we spend supporting our troops and KBRs Blackwater gang in Iraq is destroying us.
Another thing is, a Ron Paul might be able to cut the corruption with government military contracts, that money and the illegal war money not spent for stupidity, could insure millions of jobs developing clean energy, repairing our failing ifastructures, insuring everyone had decent and affordable health care insuraance, upgrading our education system, etc.
It’s easy to condemm Ron Paul for his ideas on militay budgets and I don’t agree with all he says, but if I had a choice between Ron Paul and McCain, Paul would get my vote and all of the dead Texas peoples votes. He is from Texas after all, and that’s how Lyndon Jonhson won his first election.
Somewhere out there, Republicans think McCain makes sense.
Actually, the “Iraqi government” has already asked the U.S. government to provide a time line for withdrawal. The Bush administration refused to give it.
I wonder if McCain might have the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Imagine if he got to be the President. He would be totally reliant on his “advisors”. Just the way such neocon and corporate “adivisers” like it. Definitely no threat of someone developing a concience.
And we would not hear about it very much, until he was no longer the president. Then, like Ronald Reagan, he would be retired to a nursing home, and the media say he was only having the beginning onset of Alzheimer’s. They would once again deny that the US president was suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s.
For what noble cause?
May 4 (Reuters) - Four U.S. Marines were killed by a roadside bomb in the western Iraqi province of Anbar on Friday, the U.S. military said on Sunday.
Following are the latest figures for soldiers and civilians killed since the U.S.-led invasion in March, 2003:
U.S.-LED COALITION FORCES:
United States 4,070
Britain 176
Other nations 136
Iraqis, ___ a million plus. Not counting Saddam.
.
.
.
.
.Who was seen hanging around someplace.
braithwa842 May 3rd, 2008 7:22 pm
Yes, McCain suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, or else he has been mentally incapacitated somehow, possibly a result of abuses during his imprisonment in Vietnam.
I rarely watch television, but I must admit there’s nothing better for diagnosing mental illness and incapacity in our leaders. For some reason, most Americans evidently cannot see what I see as obvious. McCain is an absolute dullard. Whether it’s age or a natural gift I cannot say, and it doesn’t much matter. He’ll probably win the election.
oh-my-god. Is this the best the GOP has to offer? I guess when you look back, all the Republican presidents since Reagan have been below average in intelligence. Some of them WAY below. And you’re right Ghawar–McCain will probably win!
I wonder what the price of oil would be now if we had finished up in Afganistan, got Bin Laden, and then brought everything and everybody home.
How much fuel have we used in 5 years in Iraq with all of the military equipment and the support trucks and planes going constantly? Now we have aircraft carriers in the gulf and still are rebuilding some of what we destroyed over there.
How many vehicles could fill their tanks with what just one aircraft carrier uses? We have thousands of large fuel gulping machines, vehicles, ships , planes, all using immense quantities of fuel.
It might be acceptable if there had actually been a good reason to go into Iraq to protect our country. It appears that our going in for oil ended up with us being much worse off than before. The price of diesel has doubled and gasoline nearly that much since the Bush-Cheney-McCain oil war began.
If you fight over something the value is going to go up!
——
I think about how much fuel everything uses to support the occupation when I see the military training here in the US. DAY AND NIGHT! Hey, Supply and Demand
——
Albuquerque Journal commented about jokes hurting the U.S. when the Jay Lenos crack jokes like:
Obama, Clinton and McCane went down in a plane crash; who gets saved?
A=The United States
Corporate Media will never get it!
I think the real the biggest reason for the recent spike in oil prices (and food prices) is the devalued dollar. The Fed keeps lowering interest rates, even in the face of a plunging dollar, because our brilliant leader thinks this will stave off a recession long enough for him to get out of office and McCain to get in.
The US is not occupying Iraq for oil. The US has the best health care system in the world. If only it were as easy as electing a great storyteller.
“Panama Jack” McCain fails to see that there already IS , “chaos and genocide in the Middle East.”
“We should end our dependance on oil, get rid of these dang horseless carriages, and go back to the good old days…you know…when I was a youngun’ we……zzzzzzzzzzzz”
Somebody wake Grampa up….
Perhaps it is more than the oil.
The garden of eden was said to have been in southern Iraq. Six thousand years ago, it is likely aliens, the sons of god as they are called, descended into the region as angels of light, and messed around with the daughters of man (Eves). Man was a good but a dumb animal. Despite being warned to stay away, the Eves messed around with the sons of god, who saw the daughters of man were pleasing to the eye. The Eves were tempted by the sons of god as they had a nice set of big apples hanging under their large tree, and the sons of god moved their tree like a serpent and spilled the seeds of knowledge in the Eves. They were evil SOB’s, but good in the sack, and when the Adams came to take back their Eves, they got a taste of the Big apples tree serpent in a different orifice. This set the stage for human civilization as a result of the genetic boost given to man, and man became smarter, but not so good as before. They also liked to fight wars and dominate inferior races, and were not content with living the good life.
Maybe they are planning a return, and we are in Iraq to greet the emperor of the galactic empire, who will then rapture us into the New World, transporting us via the God Ships we will be told to report to, which will then take those chosen to “heaven” where they will become genetic food stock or slaves, or simply disposed of as surplus labour. It is possible that Cheney and Bush are really aliens who have infiltrated our government. The elite in fact may all be aliens, or perhaps simply have bloodlines that trace back to the sons of god, confirmed by DNA testing, and it is time to eliminate the inferior races that do not have sufficient genetic linkage to the sons of god (otherwise known as ET).
ET go home.
LOL if you will, but this reality is just as plausible as McCains.
The US of Terrorism is funding weapons development, and training, recruiting, equipping and motivating people to go and kill foreigners every single day, to the tune of trillions of dollars per year.
Said this before I will bet money McCain is the next president. Wake up that is what they want a person that is so controled by outside people he doesn’t know what the hell is even going on.
Lets start the bidding at 5000 Quatlu’s ( Star Trek)
OK people every time McCain shows up some place in America be that one person who asks or yells out Do you have Alzheimers?
KEM,
McCain is 72? What the HELL are Republicans thinking? Lest you think that last comment is ageist, my concern is centered around his mental faculties, not how many candles are on his cake. 72 seems a bit early for that kind of dementia, but I suppose senility and Altzheimers sets in at different ages for different folk. Come to think of it, after Reagan, shouldn’t we as a nation strive to include some sort of minimum level of mental competence along with a 35-year minimum age and having been born in the US as prerequisites? It’d replace MILLIONAIRE status quite nicely, I think.
Regardless of age, you’re pretty sharp, KEM. If the Dems implode in childish bickering and Ron Paul doesn’t stand a chance, I’m writing your name in, okie? It’d at least be a way to get your clarion call about Arctic methane to a wider audience.
Ohmygosh…that gives me an idea: who among regular CD posters would y’all elect if’n you had the intestinal fortitude to forgo the national candidates? This could get interesting. Mind you, it’s all just for fun. Be nice.
MiMiCcS,
I bet Eve tasted a little like pasta. Good post.
MiMiCcS–No more beer for you!
Hey Jim Glover: Just like the Ponzi scheme housing bubble, the dollar already is too risky and worthless. Its just a matter of when it plays out. We could have inflation and stagnation that would make an old banana republic proud.
McCain has so many things wrong its scary. He isn’t the best the Republicans can offer, but his timing was good. He certainly tried enough times. The Repubs have unfortunately driven out or marginalized their moderates. It peaked when Santorum went after Arlen Spector but wound up losing is own seat. The neocons could have groomed the next man, say Colin Powell, but in their simple minded hubris, they allowed him and so many others to discredit themselves.
McCain’s strategy is to distance himself a bit from Dubya and the cons, and let Hillary and Obama trash each other for him. Seems to be working so far. I can’t believe any Republican could be elected after the last 7 years, and I can’t believe McCain could be the nominee. Stranger than fiction.
Lets just hope if elected, he keeps the neofascists at arms length, brings in good people, restores law and order in government, gets the US off the Human Rights watch list, and his administration resembles more that of George H W Bush than Dubya’s. He might even take a stab at greenhouse gas emissions.
Thoughts_Into_Action - “Somewhere out there, Republicans think McCain makes sense.”
No, they think the same way we do about him, but once he became “IT” they put aside those thoughts, and rallied around “Their Man” like good little Borgs. (I wonder if they’ve purged all those comments on the conservative websites?)
thewonderingyou - “… 72 seems a bit early for that kind of dementia …”
My sister is 71.5 and is already so far gone that she refers to her husband as “that nice man who takes care of me,” (and changes her Depends). She wasn’t able to answer questions about her own kids five years ago, and a few years before that was about like McCain is now.
Talking about sharp old guys, they will be recalling healthy 70-something vets back into the service if Iraq goes on much longer.
When an IED goes off under the Bradley, there is no difference between 22 and 72.
Ron Paul and John McCain are the same age but McCain is given a pass because he’s a talker.
Ron Paul always makes sense and doesn’t need someone prompting him for the next sentence or correcting what he has just said.
Everyone looks for the wrong things in a presidential candidate, and that’s why we keep getting duds.
It’s frightening to think we will likely have another ‘mindless toadstool’ like Bush in the White House for 4 more years! This guy is pathetic! He spends his time correcting ’sticking his foot in his mouth’ disease statements. Making erroneous statements that people around him have to correct. Making outrageous statements about bombing countries who are currently leaving us alone. He should be giving up politics not running for President! The only reason he won the Republican primary he is acceptable to moderate Republican’s where a lot of the other candidates weren’t! I hope people wise up and retire this guy before he gets into the White House!
Thing is: If the 2nd gulf war was about WMD (rather than oil,) there’s no justification whatsoever for continuing it.
McBomb should be referring to his campaign as the Straight Talk Expresses: i.e., one coming from either side of his mouth.
I think the simple fact of the matter is that McCain will say just about anything that happens to sound good at the moment, even if it’s completely inconsistent with what he said in the past, or what he’s likely to say in the future.
The Straightjacket Express is running true to form. It gives me chills to think he could be our next president. Another disaster. The commercials aren’t lies, they’re just doing what I take it you don’t want us to do, take you are your word.
He’s only in the position he’s in because the other fatally flawed candidates dropped like flies. Then the finger pointed at him and it’s, Who me? Really?
Blessthebeasts, you’re right. From Reagan on they’ve been dullards. And they’ve fought off the Democratic nominees by casting them as uppity smart people, not the sort the Republicans want in office. Being intelligent is a drawback.
It’s probably a little late for posting the following link in this page, but I’ll repost it again anyway. It’s something else McCain (as well as Billary, also mentioned in the article) might want to clarify; why they’re breaking U.S. electoral laws. McCain-Rothschilds and Billary-Elton John, and it all relates to suspected receiving of financial aid for their presidential campaigns from foreigners; strikes for both. How many strike-outs are they permitted; limitless?
“McCain accused of accepting improper donations from Rothschilds
Global Research, April 30, 2008
guardian.co.uk - 2008-04-29″
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8856
I see the presumptive GOP nominee suffers from hoof and mouth disease, as well as Alzheimers. So, Desert Storm was fought for control of the oil? How many innocent Iraquis died for that? How many US soldiers?
McCain’s senior moment reveals an obvious truth: the Iraq fiasco is foremost about oil (there are other considerations as well, such as corporate crony plundering of the US treasury masking as government contracts). The simple reason why the lies were promulgated is the simple fact that despite the vast amounts of ad dollars spent by the oil biz, very few Americans consider their blood a price to pay for their profits. If the Democrats do not pounce on this like a hungry cat on a rat, then they are bigger fools than those who actually bought the lies in the first place and enlisted.
Hi ~WmC~ ___ May 4th, 10.20am That is the PERFECT point you brought up. “If the second Gulf War was for WMDs, as McCain just stated, then there is absolutly no necessity to have our troops stationed in Iraq.”
Our military should have departed the day after no WMDs were discovered and allowed the Iraqi people to establish their own government and given them the funds to repair the infacstructures we destroyed searching for imaginary WMDs, which our director of the CIA, George Tenent had told Bush they didn’t have.
When McCain uttered those words of “clarification”, a good reporter should have asked him, “Why then did we stay after no WMDs were located an dSaddam had been ousted from power? Why did we build a 104 acre embassy site in Baghdad?”
It is not too late for those questions of McCain, call out Helen Thomas or Keith Olberman.
In addition, there is absolutely NO reason for a 104 acre, $77 million dollar embassy complex, which was well planned before the invasion. We all know the war was for oil, McCain must think he’s still at the Officer’s Club bar drinking with his Tail-Hook buddies.
Who says this man is not capable of nuance? He’s made a very nice distinction here! The first attack on Iraq was for oil; the current occupation is an effort to find the hidden weapons of mass destruction. Thanks for the info!
But as I recall, the first President Bush had some trouble naming the reasons for the first attack on Iraq, and several versions of the reasons for the first attack were made over a few weeks time. All the reasons were confusing, but I recall very clearly President George H W Bush saying the war was for “Jobs.”
So thank you, Senator McCain, for your reasoned clarification. No, I did not mind at all being put on hold for a moment (17 years) while the new reason for the old attack was worked out again. Thanks!
McCain is either senile or a natural born moron. I swear he might be stupider than Bush. But he’s more than clever enough to fool a majority of Americans, and he’s gong to be our new war president. Stay tuned for more attacks.
Hi ~The Wondering you~ Yes indeed, age is different for everyone. We have an 89 year old lady who is as sharp as a well honed straight razor. I’d honestly love to see her as our president she’s as progresive as they come and would take names and kick some ass if she was our president.
Wouldn’t have to worry about sex in the Oval Office eiither, she’s homlier than Elanor Rossevelt and just as decent and nice.
O brother. Why bother?
“claudius May 3rd, 2008 1:17 pm
I repeat the “Stright Talk Express” does not drive in a straight line. It weaves across lanes. Johnny Bomb Bomb lies to people.”
YES, HE LIES to people, and seems to be either lying to himself, or else he’s deliberately (wittingly) lying to the public. In the former case, he’d be mistaken and misleading others, but unwittingly, so not really lying; not as I treat the term anyway. But, and either way, he’s definitely not being truthful, while this applies in terms of two things the article says about his statements:
1) What he supposedly meant the motive for the war on Iraq (1991) when saying that it is war and very much for oil, besides the other purposes and which McCain refers to as being ’several reasons’, clearly including imperialist control of the Middle East, well, saying that this (suddenly and supposedly) no longer applies with respect to the present war on Iraq; well, all of the main blocks of earlier still were in place and blocking in 2003. And we know one of these blocks was Saddam Hussein. Another was his refusal to privatize Iraq’s natural and nationalised resources.
2) McCain’s so-called defence on the 100-year war, which he prefers to be interpreted as ‘peacekeeping’, is not a particularly fitting argument for defence. That’s besides ‘peacekeeping’ being a word for which there’s nearly no state-level representation of or for; a word without a real example, too much that is. After all, peace requires justice and MUCH of the present “peacekeeping” is about buttressing the main leaders of the worst injustices occurring in the world today.
Peacekeeping is definitely NOT the purpose of NATO. It may have been that, initially, but clearly not for decades now. NATO is one of the imperialist West’s strong-arms; not a peace and justice organisation. And that applies, too much, with the UN.
McCain’s quoted words at the end of the article and it adding, “Bush’s theory that troops could be in Iraq for 50 years”, these words don’t specifically speak of what kind of situation they expect in Iraq in 50 years, so much less 100 years. Those words don’t speak of either peacekeeping, or it still not being achieved, that is, a situation in which it’d be time and reasonable to send in peacekeepers, while surely NOT of the U.S. or U.K.
Anyway, McCain lies about the reasons for the present war on or military invasion of (the latter only for the whiners around here, those who can’t stand [a] proper use of the term ‘war’), for the U.S. govt had been informed enough about Saddam having had no ties to Al Qa’ida or Usama Bin Ladin (I picked up ‘Usama’ at AlJazeera.net some years ago and figure that they know better than we do how his name is spelled). The weapons inspections worked like a blessing for Saddam Hussein and Iraq, and it was irrefutably clear that these were criminally interrupted for a “little”, i.e., extreme, warfare by the Bush-Cheney-et al cabal. This was obvious before the first strikes were committed under the command of (I believe to recall) Gen. Tommy Franks, that blood-lusting lunatic, …, fiend, psycho….
I don’t give a damn what a lying congressional record says, except for whether to believe it or not, in which case it’s very useful to know if it’s erroneous or worse, lies. But the congressional record, as the article states of McCain speaking of the record, that is, is obviously erroneous; somewhat, though critically somewhat, anyway.
Otoh, the weapons inspections worked as a (cursed) blessing for Bush et al too; it indicated to them that they could strike without fears of U.S. forces receiving some gas therapies, f.e. “Here, I have a good therapy for you, have some sniffs of this wonderful gas I have to deliver to you as a gift, and I guarantee you that you’ll sleep like a rock, no one will be able to disturb you; I promise”; Saddam might have had for surprise “gifts” for the aggressors against him and his country. Well, Bush, Cheney, and so on, all obtained their reassurance that they could fully attack without needing to worry; knowing Saddam was nothing but a sitting duck, Saddam and most Iraqis, that is.
So blessing for Saddam, yes, but Bush et al turned the blessed inspections into [cursed] “blessing”; all the more so with the inspectors fleeing with their tails tucked between their legs to get out of the way of superpower hegemon.
What a team, eh?! Real teamwork?
So the war [had] to have been commanded for very distinct reasons than all of the false ones that McCain refers to according to this article and which were used to try to get dumb animal voters to support the launching of the war and all that’d ensue. We were flooded with this many-times-repeated set of LIES, and Cheney did it again this year, yes 2008, again claiming Saddam had ties to Al Qa’ida and Usama bin Ladin.
Even if they do come to believe their endless streams of repeated lies, they still know that these aren’t the real reasons or motives, which these people surely are aware of. They surely haven’t forgotten what their real motives are, and if they do, then one of their ‘et al’ network members will make the wake-up call.
McCain’s quoted explanation for having supposedly meant what the 1991 Gulf War was mainly about, and it’s welcome that he provides this information or view from himself, that this was about Iraq’s OIL reserves, while some people additionally report that Kuwait was stealing from Iraq’s reserves using the slanted oil drilling technique; well, that this explanation of his somehow magically does not apply with respect to the motives behind the present war on Iraq is half bunk. It’s true and welcome of him to say this about Gulf War I, but in doing that, he wittingly, or not, “let the cat out of the bag” about today’s war on Iraq, too; again welcome. Much the same conditions still applied when invading Iraq in 2003, too.
Iraq had been economically crushed, and the U.S.A. and some of its allies worked on eliminating Iraqi military defences during the 1990s, all the way up to 2003, with a bunch of elimination missions to weaken Iraq ever more conducted in 2002. Some people reported on those U.S. strikes on Iraq in 2002, and some U.S. soldiers who partook in some of those aerial missions exposed this I think in 2004, or sometime since.
But, and again, Saddam Hussein continued to be president in 2003 and to refuse to privatise Iraq’s oil resources. He steadfastly refused, and clearly wasn’t going to fold, so he was an obstinate block that had to strategically be removed for the imperialist West’s PIGS, who include Israeli leadership, official and hidden, as also “benefactors”, i.e., racket profiteers.
So the main obstacle was still in place, sitting on top of and in control of the U.S.A.’s ruling elites’ national interests, that is, the national resources of Iraq. The obstacles that were destroyed in Iraq by the USA and some of its allies, UK anyway, in the 1990s, up to 2003, were to destroy Iraq’s economy and, as much as possible, all of the important military defences. There was another milestone yet to achieve, the removal of Saddam Hussein, regime change in Iraq; the completion of project ‘Gulf War I’.
And Israel would not be a greater “benefactor” of today’s war on Iraq than it would have been from Gulf War I, if it had been carried out to completion or fully. Bush, Cheney, … have been working on the completion phase. In any significantly scoped enterpreise, expect multiple investors and that they’re not identical, their personal reasons or interests, motives, may vary; just that they also are all profiting from investments in the same enterprise. There’s no natural law requiring that all investors be identically motivated and moral.
Naw. This ain’t about oil. This is just about spreadin freedum and good cheer.
Sorry to be apart of it at all, but damn glad not to be on the receiving end of this bit of Amerikun largess–but we will do our collective suffering for this grossly criminal outrage against mankind.
American Exceptionalism has become a night mare from hell–not exactly a surprise for a nation that has allowed itself to become utterly dependent on resources belonging to people that don’t care for us so much. What were we thinking.
He turned into a piece of sh-t lier.
well mccain is right. this war is not about oil. that is it is not just about oil. 50% oil, 50% israel’s need to destroy iraq.
the common dream folk assiduously avoid seeing the israel connection in this war.
when the US bombs iran i am sure the folks writing here will not see the israel connection either.
the fact that the israelfirsters wanted this war is not a clue to them.
the fact that lieberman keeps pushing for an attack against iran will not give the folks here a clue that maybe this is something for israel.
McCain should catch up. Everyone who’s anyone in the neocon movement is already making excuses for the upcoming war in Iran.
Y’all are so smart and funny.
If I just stay away from articles about Israel and abortion, I would have a really nice time reading the comments on CD.
Thanks for making me smile, it happens so rarely when I read the news…
Woo-hoo Ron Paul!!
Anybody wanna go crash the Republican National Convention with me?
NO TAKERS!!!!
I will bet you are talking about the next President of the USA, John ( I wet myself) McCain.
What are you afraid of I maybe right?
Yea, well, I wanna see all you smart alecks try to keep a hundred different lies straight when you are almost 72 years old. It is not as easy as it sounds.
What,are all of our elected officials blithering idiots or do they think we are!! The revolution is coming soon!
Someone mentioned Ron Paul, who’s only reason for ending the Iraq war is because it costs so much, Ron Paul thinks about the tax breaks he could give to the rich with that money, like the good republican that he is. McBush is getting batty, that is not the only fraudian slip that he has made recently. He can’t tell Sheite from Sunnie (spelling?) and admits that economy is not his strong suit, at a time when the economy is tanking. Hillery and McSame sacrafises thousands of road repair jobs to play the shell game of ‘Gas tax holiday’!!
Obama for President!
McCain wouldn’t make a pimple on Ron Pauls butt. But, I personally don’t really want to see Ron Paul in the White House either. I want to see John Edward there. But we won’t and so I’ll vote for the Dem, whoever it is that wins the nomination.