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McCain contradicts Petraeus
“We haven’t turned any corners. We haven’t seen any lights at the end of the tunnel,” said Gen. Petraeus to the Senate Armed Service Committee yesterday. “We’re no longer staring into the abyss of defeat, and we can now look ahead to the genuine prospect of success,” said Sen. McCain at the same hearing. Uh, Senator, that’s not what the general said. What he said was that he sees no prospect of success. What he said was that for the foreseeable future we’re going to be there forever. But that shouldn’t bother you. You’ve already told us that you wouldn’t mind U.S. troops remaining in Iraq for a hundred years. Yes, yes, you added, so long as they weren’t being fired at. But that was a meaningless caveat. Since, in the world of reality, there is no prospect of our troops being in Iraq without being fired at, and since there is no prospect of your supporting their withdrawal so long as they are being fired at, there is no prospect of your opposing a hundred year long stay of U.S. troops in Iraq, under fire.
As I said when Petraeus last testified before Congress, he is, unlike all the other top commanders we’ve had in Iraq, and also unlike all pro-Bush politicians and commentators, honest about the situation in that country and our prospects there. Email entry |