[Vision2020] MCain's Afghanistan/Iraq War Judgement Flawed

[Ted Moffett]

The parsing of who has more ethical standing, experience or ability in
government or business, among the Democratic and Republican presidential and
VP candidates, should focus especially on what clearly is one of the top
issues in this election: Who pushed for the invasion of Iraq, and the
repositioning of US military forces away from the Afghanistan/Pakistan area,
where Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Bin Laden and their terror network found haven,
leaving "public enemy number one," to quote President W. Bush after the 9/11
attacks, at large?

The Iraq war has squandered billions in US treasure (talk about unwise
budget management in government!), killed hundreds of thousands, many
innocent civilians; and as the US economy slides into economic crisis,
continues to drain billions of dollars from US taxpayers.  The Iraq
occupation continues with no clear end in sight, as the Taliban and Al Qaeda
have reorganized and emerged as a major continuing threat in the
Afghanistan/Pakistan border region.

Obama opposed the invasion of Iraq.  McCain supported invading Iraq
immediately after the 9/11 attacks:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/us/politics/17mccain.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

>From URL above:

Within a month he made clear his priority. "Very obviously Iraq is the first
country," he declared on CNN. By Jan. 2, Mr. McCain was on the aircraft
carrier Theodore
Roosevelt<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/theodore_roosevelt/index.html?inline=nyt-per>in
the Arabian Sea, yelling to a crowd of sailors and airmen: "Next up,
Baghdad!"
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McCain's focus on the invasion of Iraq and massive continuing military
involvement has hampered efforts to address the Taliban and Al Qaeda terror
network in the Afghanistan/Pakistan area.  How many times must it be pointed
out that Iraq and Saddam did not contribute to the 9/11 attacks, that these
attacks were linked to Bin Laden, Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan
and Pakistan?:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/07/06/obama_mccain_split_over_afghan_strategy/

>From URL above:

At the same time, a series of new assessments from top US military leaders
have concluded that the Taliban and Al Qaeda are as strong as they have been
since the United States invaded Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks.

"Afghanistan should have been our fight," said retired Air Force General
Merrill "Tony" McPeak, national cochairman of Obama's campaign. McPeak
blamed the Iraq war, where the United States has about 140,000 troops, for
diverting the Pentagon's focus on Afghanistan, where only 32,000 American
troops are stationed.
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It appears Palin's media hyped VP candidacy is distracting discussion away
from what are serious flaws in McCain's decision making in foreign policy
regarding Afghanistan and Iraq.  I am not saying Obama's positions and
actions on these issues are without flaw.  But his hesitation to invade
Iraq, and his focus on repositioning US forces from Iraq to Afghanistan,
suggests more reflection and wisdom in judgement than McCain has revealed.
Now McCain, who previously had downplayed the importance of a large scale
military focus on Afghanistan, has changed his position to one closer to
Obama's.

How easily the US public was led into the invasion of Iraq (and McCain was
a public advocate), with propaganda and distortions of the truth regarding
Iraq WMDs and Iraq ties to Al Qaeda, with the resulting marginalizing of a
focus on capturing Bin Laden, after the 9/11 attacks!  McCain's complicity
with these policies should be emphasised in headlines till the election.

Ted Moffett
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