Will the Iraqi Government Destroy Half of McCain's Campaign?
| Wed Jun. 11, 2008 7:53 AM PDT
John McCain and George W. Bush argue that maintaining high levels of U.S. troops in Iraq is essential for the security of Iraq, the region, the world, and, of course, the Untied States. But that does not seem to be the position of Baghdad.
In recent days, there has been a spate of news reports on the troubled negotiations between the Bush administration and the Iraqi government concerning the under-construction agreement that will govern the presence of U.S. troops and military bases in Iraq. The Washington Post reports on the front page:
Top Iraqi officials are calling for a radical reduction of the U.S. military's role here after the U.N. mandate authorizing its presence expires at the end of this year. Encouraged by recent Iraqi military successes, government officials have said that the United States should agree to confine American troops to military bases unless the Iraqis ask for their assistance, with some saying Iraq might be better off without them.
"The Americans are making demands that would lead to the colonization of Iraq," said Sami al-Askari, a senior Shiite politician on parliament's foreign relations committee who is close to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "If we can't reach a fair agreement, many people think we should say, 'Goodbye, U.S. troops. We don't need you here anymore.'"
See the disconnect? McCain and Bush insist that we have no choice but to keep a large number of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. But Iraqi pols allied with the government look at U.S. troops presence as something that is optional. If these Iraqis can have the Americans there on their own terms, it's fine. If not, their position is, bye-bye.
It's within the Iraqis' rights to set whatever terms they desire. Iraq supposedly is a sovereign nation. (This week, Maliki visited Iran.) But the Iraqis' approach to the negotiations undermine McCain and Bush's defense of the current policy. McCain says it's crucial that the United States remains in Iraq and wins the war. Iraqi leaders are indicating that it ain't so crucial that the U.S. troops stay. (This morning on a conference call with reporters arranged by the Barack Obama campaign, former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig noted an "irony": the Iraqi parliament is deeply immersed in the negotiation of this agreement, yet the Bush White House refuses to involve directly Congress in the agreement.)
So what might happen to the McCain candidacy if the talks--which are supposed to lead to an agreement by the end of July--fail and Iraq gives Bush the boot? McCain won't have a war to promote any longer. And he won't be able to depict Barack Obama as a defeatist surrender-monkey who will yank out troops precipitously and endanger every single family in the United States. In other words, half of McCain's campaign will be gone. (On the Today Show this morning, McCain said that "General Petraeus is going to tell us" when U.S. troops can be withdrawn from Iraq. McCain seemed oblivious to this recent news and the possibility that Iraqis may tell the United States when to withdraw.)
If the talks do collapse, one possibility would be a year-long extension of the current U.N. mandate covering the U.S. troops presence in Iraq. That could keep the status quo in place. Yet if it comes to that, the signal from the Iraqi government will still be, we don't want you here in the way you want to be here. Such a development will not help the war-is-all candidate.
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Comments
John McCain's campaign ending video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjGYb_KtAeg
Warning - Jaw to the floor affect!
McCain is not electable; but the RIGHT WING is doing their best to build him up and foist him off as electable to the American people; don't let them. McCain is McSame; who, like Bush, will follow the EXTREMIST RIGHT WING philosophy against the American people to the demise of any hope of the American dream for the common population in the United States.
Submitted by capt (not verified) on Wed Jun. 11, 2008 4:01 PM PDT.
Talk about pulling the rug from beneath them. Well nothing is really beneath them.
I remember something to the effect of "We'll be there as long as we are needed and not a day longer" - It seems like the time is now.
Our troops are not making better security they are enforcing their will over the people. Now if the Iraqi government isn't behind us it is time to get out.
Great article!
I hope the mainstream media in America will report on this more loudly. I am tired of the Orwellian filter that much of the news from the middle east passes through before it hits America television.
McCain needs to be exposed as the warmonger he is. There is absolutely no justification to continue the illegal war in Iraq.
Submitted by GOPHater (not verified) on Thu Jun. 12, 2008 11:55 AM PDT.
Too bad the masses will never know about this. The media is too busy talking about "more important" issues, like say, for example, a missing white girl.
I think this is the only unknown yet to be determined this year. Whether the elites really are powerful enough to get their way, or whether the democratically elected Congress/ parliament members of our countries will or can do anything to stop them.
It's pretty obvious that Obama is the next President. This is the fight I'll be watching. Whether Iraq can claim its sovereignty, or whether will continue to colonize it.
I'm 64, and this is the most consequential election of my lifetime, except for the "defeat" of Gore which gave us the Iraq War. What that defeat also gave us was the triumph of the neocons and the Israel Lobby, all of whom drove Bush into Israel's proxy war in Iraq with US troops. Even if Obama wins in November, there's a serious danger that Bush will bomb Iran for Israel, as a parting shot, or give Israel the green light to bomb Iran itself. I'm terrified of the proxy foreign policy against Iran which McCain would be guaranteed to run for Israel. Any attack on Iran will give us $10 gas, at a minimum, and thus totally crater the stock market and the world economy. If the American consumer market collapses, hundreds of millions will suffer terribly in China. Etc., etc. In short, Israel and the Israel Lobby's Iran policy, for Israel and the US, sets the world on a collision course with the greatest catastrophe since 1939. McCain MUST be stopped.
Jeanrenoir post is amazingly concise about this history in the making. I would just add this concern. How will Russia and China react to a US and/or Israeli attack on Iran - a major energy trading partner for both.
Will these two economic and nuclear powers just sit back while Iran is bombed without just cause by Bush or McCain?
Russia and China have their own massive nuclear military arsenals. Will they just simply roll over as US and/or Israel attempt to push them out of the Middle East?
Submitted by August Abraham (not verified) on Fri Jun. 13, 2008 4:50 PM PDT.
This invasion against iraq is a war crime.The germans paid with their lives why not bush and his minions.1 million dead 3 million refugees destruction of the worlds oldest civilization. get real america. some day soon you will all pay for this war crime.
Submitted by gandhi (not verified) on Fri Jun. 13, 2008 5:23 PM PDT.
So what might happen to the McCain candidacy if the talks..-fail and Iraq gives Bush the boot? McCain won't have a war to promote any longer.
OTOH that could be a blessing in disguise for him. The cabalists will declare that Iraqis are now ready to take control of their own country - for better or worse - and pull US forces back to bases.
That would minimize any US casualties during the campaign. And once President McCain gets the White House, they just invest a new pretext to come swarming out of those bases. I'm thinking that the excuse might have something to do with "securing Iraq's precious oil reserves for the sake of the global economy".
The war crimes of the United States are so long and so numerous, and so well hidden by corruption. It is up to President Obama to clear the United States of its imperial history from 100 plus years back. It's a historic task, a huge change of direction for a spoiled people who have played dirty and gotten away with it for far too long.
The Foreign Minister from Iraq told Wolff Blizter, this Sunday morning on CNN, that Iraq would not allow the USA to use Iraq as a staging area for any attack on any of their neighbors. How does McCain explain all this kissing and hugging between the Iraqi governemnt and Iran?! Apparently, the only perspective he has on Iraq is from the Green Zone. They need to drop McCain off in some obscure neighborhood in Bagdad by himself and see if he can survive. With the revelations of his thesis at the College of War in 1974 one gets a better grip on his thinking and how antiquidated it truly is. Sometimes heroes start believing their own press. McCain is going to take the USA from hero to zero if elected. Especially if Dick Cheney has anything to do with it.
Hey wtf, he has to go there because so many have there before. There are plenty of trolls on the lib blogs that say that very thing and its long past time to say to them that Iraq is a sovereign nation and does not want us hanging around for a hundred years. Oh and by the way Geo and August, there has always been imperialists in most every country through out history, and a great many have contained war criminals. Does depicting the entire US as entirely culpable and responsible do anything but insult everyone? We elected a fool, liar, cheat etc. twice over and he and his cronies have sunk us into massive debt and cost us thousands of lives and created tens of thousands of cases of physical and mental suffering in this country. If those foolish enough to support war can be forced to acknowledge the consequences and see the affects then may change things, but in the mean time group labellings against an entire nation are counter productive.
