****** KEYS TO ATTACKING MCCAIN: TOPIC - IRAQ ******

Hawkeye-X

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Mon Mar-17-08 03:16 PM
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I'll begin with a few key articles and threads in which McCain is a failure:
New York Times: "McCain Wrong on Iraq Security, Merchants Say"

Note: this will be one of my many posts against McCain. I'm literally finished with Hillary, and we all know that Mr. Obama will be the nominee, so we must make an effort to help him in many matters and this post is among one of them. This also will be cross-referenced in the Research Forum for further open-edit. Let's begin:

Topic of the week: Iraq

Byline: Kirk Semple - April 3, 2007

BAGHDAD, April 2 � A day after members of an American Congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain pointed to their brief visit to Baghdad�s central market as evidence that the new security plan for the city was working, the merchants there were incredulous about the Americans� conclusions.

�What are they talking about?� Ali Jassim Faiyad, the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the market, said Monday. �The security procedures were abnormal!�

The delegation arrived at the market, which is called Shorja, on Sunday with more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees � the equivalent of an entire company � and attack helicopters circled overhead, a senior American military official in Baghdad said. The soldiers redirected traffic from the area and restricted access to the Americans, witnesses said, and sharpshooters were posted on the roofs. The congressmen wore bulletproof vests throughout their hourlong visit.

�They paralyzed the market when they came,� Mr. Faiyad said during an interview in his shop on Monday. �This was only for the media.�

My comment: McCain has returned to Iraq today - and it's still fucking UNSAFE. See this link from today

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/16/mccain-market-iraq/

On April 1, 2007, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) strolled through the open-air Shorja market in Baghdad in an effort to prove that Americans are �not getting the full picture� of what�s going on in Iraq. In a press conference after his Baghdad tour, McCain told a reporter that his visit to the market was proof that people could �walk freely� in parts of Baghdad.

What McCain failed to mention was that he was accompanied by �100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead.� He also appeared to be wearing a bulletproof vest during his visit.

Since that trip, McCain has claimed that the situation in Iraq has improved even more. A few months ago, McCain claimed that �we�ve succeeded militarily� in Iraq. Things, of course, are going so well, that he wants to keep U.S. troops there for at least 100 years.
McCain is now back in Iraq for a �surprise visit with Iraqi and American diplomatic and military leaders.� He is joined by fellow Iraq war defenders Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). But it�s unlikely they will be visiting the Shorja market again. Today, CNN reported that they tried to visit the Shorja market, but it was too unsafe and they were unable to go:

We got close to that marketplace today, Jim, but our own security advisers here in Iraq did not want us to go there. They didn�t believe it was safe for an American to be in that area. We were in a thriving marketplace nearby.

But when you show up, the local Iraqis, while it is clear security is better on the street � it is clear there are more markets open, just the traffic jams alone tell you that things are better on the streets of Baghdad � it�s also a very sensitive potential neighborhoods.

That one marketplace, as a matter of fact, you do see Iraqi police, you do see the Iraqi army, but in truth, that area is controlled by the radical cleric Moqtada al Sadr�s Mahdi army.

My comment: Once again, McCain is probably trying to use Iraq to 'boost' his Commander in Chief wannabe creds, and he doesn't really have any. He had absolutely no reason to waste taxpayer's money on this, and look who also went with him, and made it unsafer, actually.

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-lieberman0315.artmar15,0,4147424.story

My comment: No wonder why Lieberman's butkissing McCain.

A defiant Democratic-controlled Senate passed legislation Thursday that would require the start of troop withdrawals from Iraq by Oct. 1, propelling Congress toward a historic veto showdown with President Bush on the war.

And guess where McCain was?

Certainly not to be seen.

McCain Skips Senate Vote

DES MOINES, Iowa � John McCain has gone his own way again.

An ardent supporter of President Bush�s plan to send another 21,500 troops into Iraq, the senator, well known for his maverick streak, stayed on the presidential campaign trail rather than return to Washington for a rare Saturday session of the Senate called for a vote to begin debate on the president�s plan.

All day Saturday, the Republican presidential contender was hosting town meetings in Iowa, the home of the nation�s first presidential caucuses next January.

The House, like the Senate controlled by Democrats, approved a nonbinding resolution Friday rejecting the president�s plan, 246 to 182. And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tried, but failed, to begin debate on a similar measure Saturday. The motion required 60 votes, but got only 56.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0207/2796.html

My comment: Oh, and I found something very interesting:

McCain, hawk on Iraq, getting antiwar vote
Republicans who dislike Bush back him

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. - John McCain, the Republican Party's most relentless and unapologetic guardian of an enduring American presence in Iraq, has become the favored candidate of antiwar voters in the Republican primaries, according to exit polls.

In New Hampshire, McCain overwhelmingly won the votes of the one-third of Republican-primary voters who told exit pollsters they "strongly" or "somewhat" oppose the war, and trailed Mitt Romney by over 20 points among those who strongly support it. In Michigan, where McCain lost to Romney, the Arizona senator also carried antiwar voters while losing among those backing the conflict.

The unlikely base of support for McCain, who once summarized his unyielding resistance to the antiwar cause with the slogan "No Surrender," has been central to his campaign's resurgence. Both analysts and staffers acknowledge it is evidence of how much McCain has succeeded in winning over voters on the basis of his personal qualities while often failing to convince them of his policy positions - even on an issue McCain has made his campaign's signature cause. "People know this is someone who knows the possibilities and limits of military action and would not take those steps lightly," said Steve Duprey, McCain's New Hampshire vice chairman, explaining the senator's appeal to antiwar voters.

For much of last year, McCain's support for the war in Iraq appeared to threaten his prospects among independents, Democrats, and moderate Republicans. McCain has repeatedly said then he would "much rather lose a political campaign than lose a war." On the day of the Michigan primary, he raised the stakes. "I would rather lose a career than lose a war," he said in Traverse City.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/25/mccain_hawk_on_iraq_getting_antiwar_vote/

McCain has repeatedly said then he would "much rather lose a political campaign than lose a war." On the day of the Michigan primary, he raised the stakes. "I would rather lose a career than lose a war," he said in Traverse City.

Once again, McCain failed to do his senatorial duty and represent the fine citizens of Arizona which I was formerly one (Tucson, AZ) - and went off the track.

Please feel free to add more articles/threads/ideas of what the next few topics should be.

Next week's topic will be his general health (IF the post is well-received otherwise, I'm wasting my time)

Hawkeye-X