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

[lfalen]

I will agree with you to the extent that we need to refocus on Afghanistan.
Roger
-----Original message-----
From: "Ted Moffett" starbliss at gmail.com
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:04:49 -0700
To: vision2020 vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] MCain's Afghanistan/Iraq War Judgement Flawed

> 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!"
> ------------------
> 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.
> -----------------
> 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
> 
>