100 Years in Iraq?!?!?

"We are bogged down in a war that John McCain now suggests might go on for another 100 years." This is a strong statement that Barack Oboma made on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 in a debate in Cleveland, Ohio. Both he and Hillary Clinton have repeated this basic statement many other times as well, and what really makes my blood boil is that talking heads on mainstream news organizations have continued to repeated it with little or no correction as if it were fact. Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC's Morning Joe this morning admitted this morning that he has been repeating this statement himself and was shocked to discover it was false!

Joe learned this when he interviewed a gentleman (Sorry, I didn't catch his name - My bad.) from Politifact.com. This all started with a sound bite that has been repeated many times where McCain did say we would likely be in Iraq for 100 year. Very rarely, however, have we seen the whole context of that statement in which McCain went on to note the United States has maintained a military presence for decades in such places as South Korea and Japan . He said he supported such a commitment in a global hot spot like Iraq where al-Qaida continues to have great influence and recruit followers — as long as there aren't American casualties.

McCain didn't say we would be fighting there till 2108. He was saying there would likely be a base there on allied soil much like the bases we still have in Germany, Japan, and South Korea.

In this article from Politifact.com, they point out his more recent explanation of his remark and said:

"We've been in South Korea . . . we’ve been in Japan for 60 years. We’ve been in South Korea 50 years or so. That would be fine with me. As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, that’s fine with me. I hope that would be fine with you, if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al-Qaida is training and equipping and recruiting and motivating people every single day."

Three days later, on CBS's Face The Nation, McCain further expanded his remarks saying:

"The point is, it's American casualties. We've got to get Americans off the front line, have the Iraqis as part of the strategy, take over more and more of the responsibilities. And then I don't think Americans are concerned if we're there for 100 years or 1,000 years or 10,000 years. What they care about is a sacrifice of our most precious treasure, and that's American blood. So what I'm saying is look, if Americans are there in a support role, but they're not taking casualties, that's fine."

John McCain is a veteran of war, a man who was tortured for years as a prisoner of war. To say he's "pro-war" is to me like calling him a national masochist of the worst order. He criticized the execution of this war for years at his own political peril because it so quickly descended into a virtual sausage grinder. He says he wants to win this war as quickly as possible so we can get our troops off the front lines as quickly as possible, and I for one believe him.

What Clinton and Oboma fail to point out in their speeches is that The United States is still at war with al-Qaida and regardless of past mistakes, as long as al-Qaida is in Iraq, we also belong in Iraq. To let them fester and grow unchecked anywhere in the world is to fall back on the fatal mistakes of the Bill Clinton administration.