McCain Declares Americans Will Support U.S. Troops In Iraq For 50 Years

[Hissyspit]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/04/mccain-korea-2

McCain Declares Americans Will Support U.S. Troops In Iraq For 50 Years

The White House announced this week that it “would like to see a lengthy U.S. troop presence in Iraq like the one in South Korea,” where U.S. troops have been stationed for 50 years.

In the face of overwhelming evidence that Americans want U.S. troops out of Iraq, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) baselessly declared on Friday that Americans will support a long-term military presence “as long as the number of U.S. casualties can drop to almost nothing.”

“The key to this issue is not American presence, but American casualties,” he told a standing-room-only crowd of about 250 employees at Nationwide Insurance’s offices.

“We have had troops in South Korea for 60 years and nobody minds,” McCain said. “If you stay a long, long time, but have the Iraqis doing the fighting, and your people are back in the bases and away from the firing line, I think Americans would be satisfied.”

All the evidence suggests directly the opposite, that Americans want U.S. troops out of Iraq. Moreover, an ABC News poll this year found that 78 percent of Iraqis “oppose the presence of U.S. forces on their soil“; just one percent of Iraqis “want the US military presence to go on without end.”

- snip -.”

Of course, even if McCain admits that Americans don’t want to be in Iraq forever, it wouldn’t matter. He has previously proclaimed that he can ignore American public opinion polling on Iraq because he knows “what’s best for the security of this nation.“

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[whistle]

1. More reTHUGlican war mongering rhetoric, these people must have war

...so they can have power and control. The repukes know of no other way to govern :wtf:

[Zodiak]

2. Yes they do

they also know how to build up for a war that will never happen so they can have power and control.

A subtle difference, but they have now tried both methods multiple times, now. Either way, the American people lose.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Wrong, Mr. McCain. I do mind very much our presence in Korea and Iraq. I want the great American

Empire to start folding its tents.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. “We have had troops in South Korea for 60 years and nobody minds,”

http://www.usinkorea.org/1st/TRAGEDY/index.html

Tragic Death of Two Middle School Girls
unleashes orgy of hate USFK / US

On June 13th 2002, during the period of the World Cup fever in Korea, an USFK armored vehicle accidentally ran over two middle school girls on a road near Paju north of Seoul near the DMZ.

The two girls were going to a birthday party. They were walking along the edge of a two lane highway with a grassy bank rising just off to their right. The tank was the third or fourth in line in the column - meaning two tanks had already passed the girls. The driver of the tank that killed them did not hear the spotter warning him about the girls due to a faulty headset. The two girls were walking with their heads down and fingers in their ears because of the noise the column of tanks was making. It was a tragic event.

Middle school students hate promotion rally (Image to the left is of a anti-US rally for high school and middle school students. It has become very common for the anti-US civic groups to actively promote hatred among kids including elementary school children and the production of anti-American lyrics set to popular kids tunes. Many of the videos from the teen rallies also show the leftist labor party presidential candidate giving speeches at them.)

Korean society used the accident for half a year of intense hate leading to a handful of injuries to US soldiers in violent protests and unprovoked attacks in the street. Koreans wanted murder charges brought against the two soldiers in the vehicle, and they did pressure the US military to court martial them for manslaughter. This only added fuel to the fire, and the acquittal caused an explosion of hate that even caught the attention of the American media.

[indepat]

5. MF McCain should realize the US will have long been bankrupt with we the people hauling their $s

to the store in a wheelbarrow just to buy a loaf of bread, especially in view of the $trillion offloaded to poltroons and the like via no-bid/unlimited cost-overrun contracts.

[bdamomma]

6. it's amazing how these guys think they can read our minds isn't it?

what is he drinking?

why can't they get through their thick skulls this invasion was illegal and we had no business bombing the hell out of an innocent country who did nothing to us!!!

[napi21]

7. My GOD, McCain really has lost his mind!

I never quite understood why he was sticking so close to Shrub during this campaign, but if he really BELIEVES most people don't care that we still have troops in SK, he's not only too old, and too much of a Bushie, he's f-ing NUTS!

[xultar]

10. Each statement is more insane than the last...each time I think he couldn't be more crazy

then BLAMMO the fucker sinks another 1000 feet.

[xultar]

8. What a fuckin retard.

[Parche]

9. Korea

We have had troops all over the world you nifnod, but there is a 'Civil War' in Iraq
Different scenario......
Your Grandfather just turned over in his grave I think..................:mad:

[babylonsister]

11. What planet is he speaking from, because it sure isn't this one. nt

[Ganja Ninja]

12. I hope all the GOP candidates decide to run with this.

The voters will just eat this up. Why would anyone not want to vote for this?
:woohoo: :patriot: 50 Years in Iraq!!! :patriot: :woohoo:

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. I was unaware that Korea had suicide bombers & was having

a sectarian civil war.

[Solly Mack]

14. his filament has burned out

just saying...

[elocs]

15. I think that McCain should make his support for our war and occupation of Iraq as a focal point

of his campaign. Clearly he believes there should be war and occupation without end, so he should allow Americans to have an up or down vote on his ideology.

[endarkenment]

16. He could be right.

We could keep electing representatives who get borg'd before they take office and continue voting strict War Party Line for decades. Why not?

[sniffa]

17. oooooh, the 4th reich

[unhappycamper]

18. uhc to mccain: I'll support troops in Iraq till the end of 2007

After that sparky, you're on your own.

[dave_p]

19. Dude, if it keeps the US pinned down like this ...

... ObL and everybody else looking for an unopposed headline hit at America's expense will support them being there for 50 years too. I guess it's a kinda strategy. It's just the wrong side's.

[Rydz777]

20. McCain has his lucid moments; this is NOT one of them. nt

[AngryOldDem]

21. He makes a few big assumptions....

...but as usual he is talking out of his ass.

Just because South Korea is off our radar doesn't mean that troop presence still isn't of concern. He assumes that out-of-sight-out-of-mind implies acceptance. Not necessarily.

How realistic is it that troop casualty levels will fall to "almost nothing"? Again -- Iraq is a hell of a lot different than the 37th parallel. Casualty rates will only rise the longer we are there.

Personally, I find the thought of troops being in Iraq another 50 years to be appalling and repugnant. Of course for the most part Americans will support their troops. But that does not mean that they will support why the troops are there. That's the reality that McCain is choosing to conveniently ignore.