December 2, 2008 8:36:23 PM CST
(Newser) – John McCain’s views on war and defending the US were shaped by his Navy father and by his own time in Vietnam, Jeffrey Goldberg writes in the Atlantic, with victory as the only honorable outcome. His father believed public sentiment led to defeat in Vietnam even as a winning plan was taking root. “History repeats itself, huh?” says McCain, aware of the parallels with Iraq.
McCain says he’s “tried not to overlearn the lessons of Vietnam,” but his assessment of Iraq has been very much informed by that conflict. “Both of them understood that withdrawal without honor has costs,” Henry Kissinger said of the McCains. “The son knows this from his own experience and from his father.” And though McCain knows it’s unpopular, he believes preemption is one way to preserve US honor.
Source Atlantic Monthly
Oct 19, 08 4:24 PM CDT There’s plenty wrong with John McCain, but questions about his heroism in Vietnam just don’t stand up, biographer Matt Welch writes in the LA Times. McCain “gave great strength to his fellow POWs,” and “unless you think that inspiring your fellow prisoners to resist and cope with unbelievable acts of torture isn't heroic, then ‘hero,’ at least, is one description McCain deserves.” More »
Aug 21, 08 10:30 AM CDT John McCain has won admiration from an unlikely place: Vietnam, the nation he bombed 23 times during the war there. Including politicians, newspaper editors, and even his former captor, Vietnamese are voicing support for the candidate. The Republican pushed to restore ties with the country a decade ago, and many Vietnamese hope he will now push to increase trade. More »
Jul 31, 08 3:18 PM CDT Henry Kissinger outlines his vision for the endgame in Iraq in a piece in the Washington Post, arguing that recent progress makes redeployment of US troops feasible, but "establishing a deadline is the surest way to undermine the hopeful prospects." A fixed deadline would encourage both al-Qaeda and Iran to plan a resurgence, writes the former secretary of state, and it would undermine the necessary diplomacy, which he sees including a regional peace conference. More »
Jul 25, 08 8:48 AM CDT Nouri al-Maliki's endorsement of Barack Obama's timetable for withdrawal from Iraq this week was "the earliest and most ostentatious absentee ballot of this presidential election," writes Charles Krauthammer. The Washington Post columnist thinks that the Iraqi PM gave Obama an electorial assist for a clear reason: between him and John McCain, "it is no mystery who would be the more pliant US negotiator." More »
Jul 23, 08 8:13 PM CDT John McCain insists that he did, indeed, have his facts straight when he said Tuesday that the US troop surge had made the Sunni Awakening movement possible. Barack Obama’s camp was quick to point out that Sunni tribesman had begun their revolt against al-Qaeda months before Bush announced his plan to deploy 30,000 more troops, but McCain countered by saying elements of what became known as the surge began before Bush’s announcement. More »
He’ll say Vietnam didn’t affect him, that he doesn’t think about it, that he’s aloof from it. But I see it. It’s there. - Orson Swindle, one of McCain's cell mates in Hanoi
Did the troop surge in Iraq provide [McCain] with an opportunity to achieve victory in the type of war that his father tried, but failed,to win? - Jeffrey Goldberg, Atlantic Monthly
You’ve got to tell people exactly what’s going on. This goes back to ‘Mission Accomplished,’ ‘a few dead-enders,’ ‘last throes.’ I used to grind my teeth. - John McCain, on Donald Rumsfeld
If you say the war is lost, who won? Does that mean al-Qaeda won against us? The Ba’ath Party? - John McCain
I knew that the surge would work, because John McCain was in the Senate. We knew that he wouldn’t let what happened in Vietnam happen in Iraq. - Richard Stratton, one of McCain's cell mates in Hanoi
John McCain • Iraq • McCain 2008 • Iraq exit strategy • Vietnam • Vietnam War • Henry Kissinger
