Burt Hall: Presidential Candidate McCain Is Not Qualified To Be Commander-In-Chief
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 10:11am. Guest Contribution
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Burt Hall
Senator McCain has witnessed three mistaken wars -- Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. Now, he contemplates a fourth one with Iran. He refuses to consider serious diplomacy to end the war in Iraq or to disarm the Iran threat -- although many experts have urged that we do so. These experts include all who served on the Baker/Hamilton Commission on Iraq and the current Secretary of Defense. Our progress in disarming Libya, Russia, and North Korea demonstrates that serious diplomacy does work and that McCain is out of step with the rest of the world.
President Kennedy said an error is not a mistake unless you refuse to correct it. In Korea, we corrected our error when Truman refused the military's request to fire nuclear missiles and when Eisenhower quickly ended that war on peaceful terms. Kennedy ended the Bay of Pigs disaster immediately and disclosed his error to the American people. After Russia installed nuclear missiles in nearby Cuba, Kennedy rejected military action and used tough diplomacy to avoid a nuclear exchange. Russia corrected its error by withdrawing the missiles and the world became a much safer place. Like Bush, Johnson, and Nixon were in denial on our Vietnam error, Congress finally had to stop funding the war. Meanwhile, both countries suffered losses in the tens of thousands.
McCain promises that, if elected, he will confess errors and correct them. If he really means what he says, he should correct his error on Iraq and plan on ending that war. However, he plans instead are to extend the war through 2013 with an open-ended U.S. presence beyond that. This means a continuing recruiting tool for terrorists and at least 10 years of incalculable damage to our country, the U.S. military and Iraq. In short, like Bush, Senator McCain does not have the wisdom or temperament to make decisions on matters of war and peace, to correct his errors, and to be a reliable Commander-in-Chief.
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
Burt Hall served as Group Director in the Government Accountability Office on matters of national security. He has authored articles on 9/11, the Iraq war, terrorism strategy and repairing our broken democracy. He co-authored with Ed Asner, a recent book, Misuse of Power.
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http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/1634
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