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Faulking Around - Jun 5, 2008 - Printable Version
- John McCain: The Armageddon President
by Mark Faulk
As the Democratic primary finally grinds to an excruciatingly messy halt, I keep hearing from Hillary Clinton supporters who vow to cast their lot with Republican John McCain now that Barack Obama has wrapped up his party’s nomination. Honestly, it’s an assertion that goes beyond ludicrous and eclipses disastrous, landing somewhere in the neighborhood of apocalyptic.
After over five years of failed policies concerning the war in Iraq (and don’t forget that other unfinished war in the country that actually was involved in 9/11), electing McCain would lead this country beyond the point of no return. If George W. Bush is the self-proclaimed War President, then his Republican wannabe heir apparent could easily be dubbed The Armageddon President.
Don’t believe it? Look at the record. Remember the November, 2002 “Joint resolution to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq” that Congress bought into hook, line, and sinker? The one that allowed Bush and his cronies to instigate a war that McCain himself has said could last for a hundred years? Not only did Senator McCain vote for that resolution (and every pro-Iraqi War measure since), he was a co-sponsor of the bill.
In February, 2003, on FOX’s “Hannity & Colmes,” shortly before the initial invasion of Iraq, McCain was decidedly more optimistic about the length of the impending war, predicting that it “will be brief." On CNN, he said "The success will be fairly easy," and added "I believe we can win an overwhelming victory in a very short period of time." The following month, in a speech on the floor of the Senate, he said, “When the people of Iraq are liberated, we will again have written another chapter in the glorious history of the United States of America.”
That’s right, while Obama spoke out against the invasion of Iraq from the very beginning; McCain was leading the charge in a war that former White House press secretary Scott McClellan now calls “a serious strategic blunder,” while accusing the Bush administration of utilizing deception and misinformation to sell it to Congress and America.
Despite the backlash from an admittedly stunned White House, McClellan isn’t the first ex-insider to criticize the current administration over Iraq. The Washington Post lists 37 former White House staffers who broke ranks and wrote books or opinion pieces critical of Bush and his inner circle’s handling of the war. Among those who have questioned the validity and handling of the war are former Joint Chiefs of Staff director of operations Marine Lieutenant General Gregory Newbold, Army Major General Paul Eaton, Major General John Batiste, former Bush anti-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke, and former Army Gen. Eric K. Shinseki.
In an April, 2006 opinion piece in Time magazine, Newbold criticized Donald Rumsfeld and other Bush officials, saying, “The consequence of the military's quiescence was that a fundamentally flawed plan was executed for an invented war.”
While the release of the McClellan book puts McCain in an uncomfortable position with his hawkish position on Iraq (which he now claims is “winnable by 2013”), it is his stance on Iran that is even more disturbing.
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in April, 2006, Senator McCain spoke about possible sanctions against Iran:
“We're going to the United Nations Security Council with our European allies. We are seeking sanctions. We must have sanctions against Iran.”
He then said that if sanctions failed, the U.S. must be prepared to use military force against Iran:
“Would it be a difficult military option? Sure, it would be a difficult military option. But you cannot remove it from the table.”
“Meet the Press” host Tim Russert asked McCain what could happen if the U.S. found itself embroiled in two major wars at once.
McCain’s chilling reply: “I think we could have Armageddon.”
A year later almost to the day, while speaking at a South Carolina VFW hall in April of 2007, McCain was asked about Iran, or rather, “When do we send them an airmail message to Tehran?”
McCain’s response?
“That old Beach Boys song? Bomb Iran?” (to sporadic and slightly nervous laughter). And then he actually sang a chorus:
“Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran….” And again, the audience laughed.
Senator McCain…war is NOT funny. Lives lost, both civilian and military, is no laughing matter. A country pushed to the verge of bankruptcy to fund not one…not two…but countless conflicts around the globe is not something that America should find laughable.
Armageddon is nothing to joke about.
But McCain hasn’t stopped there. He has continued to beat the war drum in speech after speech. This past January, he shocked a crowd of supporters by saying, “There's going to be other wars. I'm sorry to tell you, there's going to be other wars. We will never surrender but there will be other wars.”
Even staunch conservative Pat Buchanan was critical of McCain’s aggressive approach to international relations, saying “You get John McCain in the White House, and I do believe we will be at war with Iran. That's one of the things that makes me very nervous about him. There's no doubt John McCain is going to be a war president. His whole career is wrapped up in the military, national security. He's in Putin's face, he's threatening the Iranians, we're going to be in Iraq for a hundred years.”
So before disgruntled Hillary supporters declare their support for a warmonger whose comments make Bush look like a pacifist, they might want to reconsider. Do we really want a president who thinks it’s funny to lead our world down the path to Armageddon while singing a chorus of “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran”?
I have said before that this is one of the most important elections in our nation’s history. Let’s just hope it’s not the last.
And that’s the Faulking Truth.
(Mark Faulk’s first book, entitled The Naked Truth: Investing in the Stock Play of a Lifetime, is now available at www.toginet.com. Buy it now, so he can pay some bills. Seriously, he really needs the money. I’m not even kidding. And join Mark and Paul Faulk every Saturday from 1-2 PM CST on The Faulking Truth X2 Show at www.toginet.com)
(Editor's note: This is my latest article for the June 6th edition of NONzine, available throughout the Oklahoma City metro area at an www.nonzine.com )
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