McCain bluntly states "USA won't pullout of Iraq under my Presidency"

AMMAN, March 18 (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Tuesday that a U.S. troop build up in Iraq was succeeding and a premature withdrawal would dramatically enhance Iranian influence in the region.

McCain was speaking in Jordan, where he held talks with King Abdullah, after a visit to Iraq where he met Iraqi leaders and U.S military officials as part of a Senate Armed Services Committee fact-finding mission.


"If we pull out of Iraq ... then obviously the Iranian influence is dramatically increased, al Qaeda has greater influence and endangers the region dramatically, and the United States's image and security challenges are dramatically increased," said McCain.


McCain hopes his Middle East tour will remind Americans of his national security credentials and counter demands by Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for troops to be withdrawn from Iraq as soon as possible.


The Iraq war is a major issue in the U.S. presidential campaign. As it enters it sixth year, the war has cost the U.S. economy $500 billion and seen nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis killed.


McCain, a former Navy pilot and Vietnam War veteran, supported going to war but was a vocal critic of how the war was conducted until an extra 30,000 troops were deployed last year as part of a new counter-insurgency strategy.


"We were very encouraged by our visit to Iraq that the surge is succeeding and in the reduction in U.S. casualties but it is complicated by the Iranian involvement in Iraq... (and) Syrians continue to expedite the flow of foreign fighters in Iraq," McCain added.


Attacks across Iraq have fallen by 60 percent since last June, when the troop build-up was completed. There has been a spike in violence since January, with an upsurge in suicide bombings linked to al Qaeda. The U.S. military says most of the suicide bombers tend to be foreign fighters.


However McCain, whose political standing has risen and fallen to some degree depending on whether the war has been going well or badly, warned "there was still a long way to go" before defeating al Qaeda.



"The situation has dramatically improved but I also want to emphasise time and again al Qaeda is on the run but they are not defeated," he added. McCain repeatedly lashed at Iran, accusing it of training terrorists, including al Qaeda, to attack U.S. troops and supporting Lebanon's powerful Shi'ite group Hezbollah. "I am deeply concerned about Iranian influence not only in Iraq but on nuclear weapons, on sponsorship of Hezbollah and other terrorist organisations," he told reporters.
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Where is that quote?

 

That's right. Mc cain doesn't cut any corners or beat around the bush.
He's blunt and doesn't seem to think or plan much.

 

Is he? I've seen video interviews of him and read news articles quoting him that showed him giving responses that were very poorly articulated or thought out and contradictory to what he'd stated just months prior. He has every right to change his mind on things, but I don't think he's as "steadfast" as they'd like us to believe.

If he's elected we'll just have more of the same, I think. I hope he keeps talking like that. He'll never win.

As for Iraq, I would think that the opposition in Iraq would then ramp up their attacks to push down US public opinion of the war, thereby helping McCain lose more potential votes. With either of the Democrats in office there's a better chance of getting the US out of Iraq.

As far as regional stability and world relations, I'm not sure which direction would be the best in the short term. I think no matter what we do now it will be a tough haul.

 

I agree that we likely won't be leaving entirely within 4 years, however I think McCain could easily drag us into another war with Iran, Seria, or whatever else comes along (North Korea?).

My thing is; I have no confidence in McCain as far as decision making (even if he is candid) and I don't know if I can have confidence in Obama because he hasn't been very definitive in his answers so far that I've heard. Clinton; I simply don't trust her.

 

Yeah, I think he's either listening to advisers and realizing that it's not realistic to just pull out at this point or his talk was just a selling point on him getting elected; "tell 'em what they want to hear".

 

Why is it not realistic to pull out now?

 

How can you think of leaving Iraq divided, under civil war, where Sunnis and Shiites and Kurds are enemies of each other. I don't think the US army is going anywhere for atleast 20 years.

 

I don't know that the infrastructure is stable enough or that the Iraqi government and military is strong enough to be independent of help. I think it could be reckless to just pull out.

Somalia comes to mind.

 

That could be true if things spiral out of control.

Then again, might it be better if the different groups are represented by different governments, each separated regionally?

 

We have been in Iraq longer than we were in WWII. The nature of the problem has intentional been misrepresented IMO. It's not Al Queda. It's trying to hold together a country that should probably split up along ethnic factions. It's that we are occupiers in a country that doesn't want us.

The problem of occupation only ends two ways historically. Genocide or withdrawal. Machiavelli understood this, if I remember, I will try to dig up the relevant quotes about holding captured territory later today.

That's the sad part of it. Most people know we were wrong to go in, but they will make every excuse to stay. They realize we can't afford to stay, but they will argue that we have to bankrupt ourselves trying.

No one seems to remember the lessons of Vietnam.

And it isn't reckless to stay? People are dying, there is civil unrest and ethnic violence. After 5 years, we haven't established 100% control. The surge was a temporary measure so that troops could start to be drawn down, now it is being spoken of as an ongoing tactic, which is unsustainable. Stop loss policies are starting to anger troops.

It's not sustainable. At one point, we have to be honest and realistic and recognize that there may be some things we break which we cannot fix. And that the Iraqis deserve the right to self-determination.

Iran, Syria and others taking up portions of Iraq may not be such a bad thing. The whole problem with ethnic clashes in Iraq stem from the League of Nations divvying up the region after WWI. When the Ottoman empire fell, the League of Nations established Mandates, and Iraq was a class A mandate under British rule (Mesopotamia).

Instead of relying on European and western decisions on what constitutes a country, where the borders are etc., perhaps we should allow the people of the region to decide for themselves. The Biden plan is a step in this direction.

We've already seen what a failure the strategy of the west and world government organizing countries has been in Israel/Palestine.

 

Either way, I'm sure people will die, just not directly by the US. At least by having a strong military presence the civilians have a chance to live somewhat safely. I want more stability there before pulling out. I also don't want us to get dragged into other wars, which could happen either way.

I do agree that it may be best to separate Iraq into cultural regions. I haven't heard any US politicians talking of this. Have you?

 

This is the same POV that kept Vietnam going long after it should have ended.

If people are going to die anyway, that doesn't remove the moral responsibility to do the right thing. Invading Iraq was based on lies. Occupying a country where polls show the average Iraqi just wants us to leave is wrong.

They are free people, not our children or surrogates. We have no right to run their country if they don't want us.

Don't take this personally, I respect your posts, but usually it is hubris or guilt. Either way, that approach cost a lot more needless lives in Vietnam than it had to, and I am sure 20 years from now, the same will be said about Iraq.

There is a (Joe) Biden plan, but I haven't heard of it spoken in quite some time. It was pretty popular last year...