Is McCain Crosseyed? He's Sees The Major Danger in Iraq Instead of Afghanistan

The Christian Science Monitor's "As Afghanistan boils, McCain keeps focus on Iraq" provides a good analysis of McCain's view of Iraq as the central point on the war on terror and how valid that might be.

Excerpts:

John McCain has called Iraq the "central front" of the war on terror, a crucible of America's ability to defeat violent Islamic extremists the world over.

But with record US casualties in Afghanistan in June, a resurgent Taliban, and new reports of Al Qaeda regrouping in northwest Pakistan, Senator McCain is likely to face new questions about his judgment on the one issue – national security – where voters consistently give him higher marks than they do his Democratic rival.

McCain has resisted calls for more troops in Afghanistan and has rejected criticism that the Iraq war is detracting from efforts to secure Afghanistan.

... 

How voters respond to McCain's continued focus on Iraq may depend on how closely they are following the news, some analysts say.

"If the public is not aware that Al Qaeda is cropping up in North Africa and Afghanistan and other locations, then McCain's message might be accepted," says Gordon Smith, a political scientist at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. "For those members of the public who are well informed, to hear him argue as if Al Qaeda exists primarily in Iraq might lead to questions of, 'What's he thinking? Where's he getting his information from?' " 

In the article, Ariel Sabar catches John McCain taking his information from Osama bin Laden. *

So, for McCain the world is just like Osama says it is?  Interesting.  People should know that! Thanks for telling us, Sir.

What the Republicans including McCain are apparently saying is that we don't have to take responsibility for Afghanistan anymore because we passed it off to NATO.  Actually, no.

To follow the Republican's reasoning that we don't have a responsibility for Afghanistan any more would have been like abandoning the effort against Germany after D-Day, tossing that effort off to the English and Russians, etc. and, say, parking our troops in the vineyards of France and Italy in order to get control of the more profitable wine making industry there. Of course, the analogy would be even closer if Gallo was a huge contributor to then president Roosevelt's political campaigns and was set to become a proud partner in extracting from the juice of prime European vineyards.

*To be honest he also cited General Petraeus who owes his position to being a mirror of Bush administration thoughts and plans. (Return to * above )

tags: john mccain  barack obama  iraq  afghanistan  pakistan  gwot  al qaeda  

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