McCain: 'Iraq Troop Pullout Would Harm Israel'

[Purveyor]

Source: Jerusalem Post

US presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain on Monday criticized Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama's calls for withdrawing US troops from Iraq, saying that such a pullout would harm Israel's security.

Speaking to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), McCain also blasted Obama's calls for talks with Iran.

"The Iranians have spent years working toward a nuclear program,'' McCain said, "and the idea that they now seek nuclear weapons because we refuse to engage in presidential-level talks is a serious misreading of history."

"Even so, we hear talk of a meeting with the Iranian leadership offered up as if it were some sudden inspiration, a bold new idea that somehow nobody has ever thought of before," he said.

"Yet it's hard to see what such a summit with President Ahmadinejad would actually gain, except an earful of anti-Semitic rants, and a worldwide audience for a man who denies one Holocaust and talks before frenzied crowds about starting another," the Arizona senator continued. "Such a spectacle would harm Iranian moderates and dissidents, as the radicals and hardliners strengthen their position and suddenly acquire the appearance of respectability."



Read more: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1212041458247&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[no_hypocrisy]

1. That's a new twist on Iraq. Haven't heard that one used before.

[strategery blunder]

2. Then let Israel reimburse us for the costs of the occupation. nt

[atreides1]

3. To do that

We would have to give them more then we do now. And in the end it would still be coming out of our pockets!

[Behind the Aegis]

15. For what reason? n/t

[DavidDvorkin]

4. Not as much as the invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq already have

[opihimoimoi]

5. Still using the PUB FEAR CARD...don't that dude learn? I guess not...pity

[zbdent]

6. Doesn't Israel have nukes? And didn't they blow up the Iranian nuclear power plant?

[Behind the Aegis]

16. Possibly. Never heard that one.

[bdamomma]

7. Israel can take care of itself especially with all those nukes they have.

[truthisfreedom]

8. John "war forever" McCain strikes again. "There is no direction but war."

[BrklynLib at work]

9. BUT..What would it do for the US and its citizens??

I believe all the effects would be great for us...

[sabra]

10. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in 2005: US should pull out from Iraq

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1928603

Israel wants US to pull out from Iraq


Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak today called upon the United States to reduce its forces in Iraq, saying Washington had ''made mistakes'' and its continued presence in that country would complicate the problem with fallout in the entire West Asia.

''After a brilliant military victory, America has made mistakes in Iraq...American presence will become a part of the problem after the Iraqi polls and an American failure in Iraq will have an adverse effect in the extended West Asia,'' he said in his address at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here.

The remaining US forces could be concentrated on Iraq's border with Jordan so that the country's ''Sunni triangle'' did not have a visible US military presence. He said the attack on Iraq was not based on a stable enough premise, that there were WMD's in Iraq.

Linking the war against terror to nuclear proliferation, he said that nuclear power in the hands of mature powers promotes stability.

[sakabatou]

11. How many hundred years, then?

Methinks he's in the pocket of the Israeli lobby.

[bemildred]

12. Invading Iraq harmed Israel a lot more than going home again ever will. nt

[Behind the Aegis]

17. The planets must be in an strange alignment and cats are about to fornicate with dogs..

....because I absolutely agree with you!

[bemildred]

20. What do you have against dogs? nt

[Behind the Aegis]

53. What do you have against cats? nt

[CANDO]

13. But it's American blood being shed

Nice way of supporting the troops there, Johnny. Cannon fodder for Israel.

[daleo]

14. McCain probably thought pulling out of Viet Nam would harm Israel's security, too.

The worldwide communist conspiracy was supposed to benefit from a U.S. withdrawal from Viet Nam, resulting in Soviet supported Arab states overwhelming Israel. There is nothing new about this argument.

[Behind the Aegis]

18. Nothing like shifting the goalposts.

Way to go McCain! Way to add fodder to the anti-Israeli bigots lines of the war was for Israel, the US acts for Israel, and even, Israel controls the US. The only harm which will be done is to the Iraqi people, but our continued occupation will just compound their misery.

[classysassy]

19. Hello

McCain,I didn't realize Israel was our 51st state.

[MichiganVote]

21. Fine. Mover over US, Israel wants in. By all means Israel...take the wheel..please

[katerinasmommy]

22. McCain Says Obama is Naive About Middle East

Source: CNN

John McCain speaking at an AIPAC function claimed that Obama was "naive"

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/02/mccain.aipac/index.html

---

He certainly IS naive. He doesn't even know the difference between Sunni and Shiia. Ooops that was McCain. Hey, Obama claimed Iran was training Al Qaeda! Oh wait, that was McCain too. Hmmmmm. Oh I know, Obama said that the U.S. was back down to pre surge levels in Iraq! Shoot, that was McCain wasn't it. Dayum. This is hard work.

[tularetom]

23. Damn - you posted my post

Perhaps Obama needs Joe Loserman to clear things up for him like he did for McCain.

[katerinasmommy]

24. Eggcellent (said in best Mr. Burns accent) n/t

[Wetzelbill]

25. He's right, I especially thought it naive of Obama to say the Iraq War would only take a few weeks

and that we would be greeted as liberators. That Obama felt democracy could be imposed by a gun and magically spread across the Middle East probably wasn't naive though, it was bone stupid. So I let Obama slide a little on the last one.

[1Hippiechick]

28. “General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed humvee.”

Sorry - I don't know how to link videos, but this is the quote that is accompanied by a CNN video of McClone saying this:

:crazy: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told CNN that that President Bush’s escalation in Iraq is going so well, “General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed humvee.” On Monday, he told radio host Bill Bennett that there “are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today.”

This morning, during an interview with McCain, CNN’s John Roberts rebutted McCain’s assertions, stating, “I checked with General Petraeus’s people overnight and they said he never goes out in anything less than an up-armored humvee.” He added that a new report by retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey “said no Iraqi government official, coalition soldier, diplomat reporter could walk the streets of Baghdad without heavily armed protection.”

Faced with overwhelming evidence that he was wrong, McCain denied he’d ever said it: “Well, I’m not saying they could go without protection. The President goes around America with protection. So, certainly I didn’t say that.” CNN’s Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware, who has lived in Iraq for four years, said military sources greeted McCain’s comments yesterday with “laughter down the line.” :rofl:

[Wetzelbill]

42. I think everybody should read "The Real McCain" by Cliff Schecter

The whole book is filled with flip-flops and foolish errors by McCain like this. It's embarassing stuff, well chronicled. It's a fast read too.

But yes, poor John McCain, evidently he hasn't discovered that the video camera and the internet has been invented yet, so now people can actually go back and watch the exact words that he said. Duh!

[babylonsister]

26. And Obama responded: "A Dangerous And Failed Foreign Policy"

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2008/06/a_dangerous_and.html

June 02, 2008
"A Dangerous And Failed Foreign Policy"

Barack Obama campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan released this statement responding to John McCain's morning remarks to AIPAC in Washington:

“John McCain stubbornly insists on continuing a dangerous and failed foreign policy that has clearly made the United States and Israel less secure. Here are the results of the policies that John McCain has supported, and would continue. During the Bush Administration, Iran has dramatically expanded its nuclear program, going from zero centrifuges to more than 3000 centrifuges. During the Bush Administration, Iran has expanded its influence throughout a vitally important region, plying Hamas and Hezbollah with money and arms. During the Bush Administration, Hamas took over Gaza. Most importantly, the war in Iraq that John McCain supported and promises to continue indefinitely has done more to dramatically strengthen and embolden Iran than anything in a generation.

“Confronted with that reality, John McCain promises four more years of the same policies that have strengthened Iran, making the United States and Israel less safe. He promises to continue a war in Iraq that has emboldened Iran and strengthened its hand. He promises sanctions that the Bush Administration has been unable to persuade the Security Council to deliver. He promises a divestment campaign, even though he refused to sign on to Barack Obama's bipartisan divestment bill, refused to get his colleagues to lift an anonymous hold on the bill, and willfully ignores the fact that trade and investment between Iran and Iraq continue to expand. He stubbornly refuses to engage in aggressive diplomacy, ruling it out unconditionally as a tool of American power.

“Instead of recognizing reality, John McCain continues to run on a platform of doubling down on George Bush's failed policies, while carrying on his divisive brand of politics. The United States and Israel cannot afford four more years of an unwillingness to change course."

[Jack Rabbit]

27. Jack Rabbit says McCain is naive about Bush's policies

. . . and soft on neoconservatism.

[Kierkegaard]

50. Common sense says McStain is a walking freak show.

[fascisthunter]

29. McCain wants Obama to Respond again....

notice how McCain is trying to frame the debate?

[Indenturedebtor]

33. I don't think he's pulling Obama into a spider web

if that's what you mean. I think he's just desperately throwing out jingoistic bullshit that he knows will resonate with Faux News viewers and they live in a facist bubble.

Obama owns him as a politician and as a person, and i think McBoosh knows that.

[katerinasmommy]

36. You Nailed It n/t

[fascisthunter]

43. He is Trying, but It Isn't Working

true... he is using his dog whistle for those on the right.

[Indenturedebtor]

49. Yeah and those people are lost to us anyways

It's his fight to "shore up the base" with racebaiting and lies. Those people love that stuff though... it's almost like a prerequisite for them that a candidate be slimey and utterly full of shit.

[electropop]

30. McCain doesn't know Shiite from Shinola.

He has a lot of chutzpah pointing fingers.

[1Hippiechick]

31. Good one liner - destined to become a classic!!!!!

:headbang:


:yourock:

[mudthistle]

32. Obama is dumb not naive

Obama is just dumb, that is what happens when you vote present for most of your political life

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[katerinasmommy]

35. Self delete

[Hawaii Hiker]

37. Well, McBush is the one who graduated at the bottom of his class

if Obama is dumb, I hate to tell you what John W McBush "phony POW" is...

[truthisfreedom]

38. Get away from mommy's computer!

[Inuca]

46. Speaking of dumb.... n/t

[Skittles]

56. old, OLD repuke talking point

you need to catch up

[Doctor_J]

39. McSame is senile about everything

Sunnis, Shiites, Iran, Iraq, economics, tax cuts...

[Robbien]

40. McCain’s Dig at Obama Greeted With Standing Ovation at Aipac Conference

Washington — Senator John McCain delivered some harsh criticism of Senator Barack Obama’s foreign policy at the opening session of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual conference Monday.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee told the crowd at the annual policy conference of the pro-Israel lobbying powerhouse that his Democratic rival’s talk of negotiating with Iran would lead to no results “except an earful of antisemitic rants.”

The Arizona senator received a standing ovation when he blasted Obama for not supporting a Senate resolution demanding the designation of Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terror group

cut and past link:
forward.com/articles/13488/


Israelli lobbyist PAC are scary dudes.

[katerinasmommy]

41. Luckily

they do not speak for all Jewish Americans

[jaybeat]

44. Naive is thinking we can bomb them to hell and they'll thank us for it!

Psychotic is thinking it will happen if we do the same thing to Iran!

[damntexdem]

45. McCain speaks at an AIPAC event and calls Obama naive?

[Inuca]

47. It will be interesting to hear

what Obama will have to say on Wednesday at the same venue, and how it will be received.

[LynnTheDem]

48. rotflmao!!!

Sometimes all you can really say in reply is :rofl:

[truthisfreedom]

51. McCain is naive about Saudi Arabia. After all, 15 of 19 of the Sept 11, 2001 hijackers were Saudis.

And McCain hasn't said word one about that.

[opihimoimoi]

52. That dude just know when to STFU....McBush is just as IGNORANT as Bush himself.

What books has McCain read?? their authors? The Subject matter? A synopsis? He and Bush had shown poor grades in College....indicating mpre party than study...

But what of recent years? What have they done to prepare for Leadership? With Bush...ya see what happens when ill prepped...disaster....

McSame will be more of Bush the Insane....

[sendero]

54. FUCK Israel..

... Israel is the SOLE REASON we are caught up in this pointless terror war.

[gtar100]

55. The US Government #1 Priority

or so it seems.

[OhioChick]

57. Can't be the world's policeman. n/t

[mitchum]

58. Big fucking deal...let their petulant skygod protect them

[FVZA_Colonel]

59. Funny, 'cause it seems to me that removing a check on Iranian power in the region

is what caused the mess Israel's in in the first place.

[Bush_MUST_Go]

60. Yeah, it might make Israel safer! And that's NO GOOD for the end-timers.