MATT LAUER: A lot of people now say the surge is working.
JOHN McCAIN: Anyone who knows the facts on the ground say that.
LAUER: If it's working, senator, do you now have a better estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq?
McCAIN: No, but that's not too important. What's important is the casualties in Iraq. Americans are in South Korea. Americans are in Japan. American troops are in Germany. That's all fine.
My first question is this: What do the troops in theater think of a statement like that? What does the young sergeant on the 14th month of his third tour think when John McCain says it's "not too important" when we come home? In fact, this kind of talk is devastating to the morale of the troops. And this type of careless, flippant remark demonstrates unmistakably that McCain clearly has no idea what it's like to serve on repeated deployments. While he suffered much in his own war, he can neither empathize with, nor relate to today's troops in Iraq.
Second, it's evident that John McCain has no clue what Americans want: A CBS News poll last week showed that 80 percent of Americans disagree with John McCain's assertion that troops should remain in Iraq for as long as it takes.
Lastly, and most importantly, it's apparent that John McCain has no idea what's going on in Afghanistan and Pakistan--the two places that both General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker said represent a greater threat to America than Iraq. If McCain had been paying attention, he would be aware that a recent RAND study showed that the situation on the Pakistani side of the border is dangerously unstable--and that we are at risk of losing the larger battle there. Likewise, he would be aware that the Pentagon can't find enough troops to serve in Afghanistan--because they're all in Iraq:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon is scrambling to find trainers to send to Afghanistan, but it will be difficult to do that before commanders reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, the top military officer said Tuesday.
The quandary has left U.S. military leaders short in a region of the world where they believe the next terrorist attack against the United States will form. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan - where Osama bin Laden is still rumored to be hiding - is also where planning for the next attack is happening.
In his obsession over the fight to install an Iranian-backed government in Baghdad, John McCain has been consistently blind to the larger issues we face in terms of our own national security. It's made him careless and it's made him sound stupid on a number of occasions.
This makes John McCain wholly unsuitable for the role of Commander-in-Chief. He is unstable, unaware, and obviously has no sense of what it's like to be a soldier in today's military. And frankly, with the incredible strain on our Armed Forces, I'm not convinced that McCain wouldn't try to bring back the draft--especially once someone clues him in to what's taking place in Afghanistan and Pakistan. A draft would also be necessary for any incursion into Iran.
That said, I think the best way to handle McCain at this point is to box him in: Given his zeal for further war, there is one question some intrepid reporter must ask him: "Senator McCain, will you take the draft off the table?"
If he is unwilling to go that far, we'll know with some certainty where we stand at least.
"The welcome mat for memoirs by veterans of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom might never wear out so long as they write with the savvy of Brandon Friedman . . . Friedman's take is vivid, frank, precise and dramatic."--Military Times
"Add Brandon Friedman's The War I Always Wanted to the ranks of outstanding non-fiction produced by officers from elite combat units in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Always truthful, often excruciatingly so, The War I Always Wanted rises at numerous points to the level of literature."--Steven Pressfield, author of Gates of Fire
"A Time To Lead confirms the rewarding benefits of military service at a time when such service is experiencing considerable strain. It also includes a comprehensive description of America's current national imperatives, which deserve serious consideration."--General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., former Secretary of State
"This is a primer on leadership forged in battle and by decades of experience. . .This isn't just a book; it's a manual for leading people and living a good life."--Barry McCaffrey, General, USA (ret.)
"Whip smart, sassy, with a mouth as foul as a sailor's, 28-year-old Sergeant Kayla Williams. . .tells what it's like to be a female soldier in Iraq."--Booklist
". . .echoes military memoirists from Julius Caesar to Ernie Pyle."--Publishers Weekly
". . .a shocking, on-the-ground view of one military woman's experience in Iraq."--Bookmarks Magazine
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