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McCain and the Hundred Years War
Author: TriSec    Date: 04/05/2008 13:08:53

Good Morning!

Perhaps you remember John McCain's comment about us spending the next 100 years in Iraq. Obviously, he's gone nuts, but he made the comparison to Germany and Japan, two countries we defeated in war 63 years ago.

By all accounts, both nations are modern, efficient paragons of today's society. Wouldn't you just love it if American cars were as good as the German ones, or if our rail system worked like Japan's?

63 years is an awfully long time for an occupying army to hang around...considering the average age of the typical American Soldier, we've been there for perhaps 4 generations of military men and women.

It's been said that those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it...but that's different than living in the past expecting to fight the last war.

Noted Libertarian columnist Charley Reese has an interesting take on McCain's school of thought....and it's Strategic Manure.


Sen. John McCain is already spreading the old "strategic interests" fertilizer along the presidential campaign trail while pretending to be an expert.

Let's hope he really can explain what interests require us to maintain troops in Germany and Japan 63 years after the end of the war. What exactly is the purpose of those troops? Are we expecting the Mongols to descend on Japan? Does he expect the Cossacks will ride across the plains to attack Europe? Does he think that two of the greatest economic powers on Earth – Japan and Europe – are too poor to defend themselves? The old boy is living in the past.

When American politicians talk about strategic interests, they are talking about just what I called it, manure. We have no strategic interests in the Middle East whatsoever. We wish to buy oil there. Last time I checked, those countries that produce oil were selling it to any country willing to buy it, whether that country had troops in the area or not. Since oil isn't edible, there's not a heck of a lot you can do with it if you don't sell it.

What are all those Navy ships in the Persian Gulf doing? Do McCain and George Bush seriously believe that Iran would launch an invasion of Saudi Arabia? That's ridiculous. There might be some aspects of Iran's government we don't care for, and that's OK, because it is not our government and we don't have to live under it. Nobody in his right mind, however, has ever accused Iran of being an expansionist nation. All McCain has to do is read up on his history and ask the CIA to explain to him Iran's order of battle. Their forces are not equipped for invasions.

As for the nuclear nonsense, both Iran and our own intelligence agencies say that the Iranians are not interested in developing nuclear weapons. But suppose they were. Who cares? I'm much more concerned about the nuclear weapons in Russia, China, India, Pakistan, France, Great Britain, the U.S. and Israel.

Iran is one of the oldest civilizations on Earth, and its people are smart. They are not crazy. They know that one day their oil will run out, and they want to develop nuclear power. They signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. They have called repeatedly for a nuclear-free Middle East. To compete with the nuclear powers, they'd have to produce so many nuclear weapons and delivery systems, it would bankrupt them. They've decided that option would be foolish. Now if they can only convince our foolish politicians.

I sometimes think our older politicians fell in love with the British Empire. I think many of them secretly long to sit on a veranda somewhere and be served drinks by humble servants. They love the idea of empire. The admirals and generals like to fly around to our 702 overseas bases, play a little golf, have a few drinks and fly home again.

The reality is that we can no longer afford our overseas empire, no matter what strategic interests McCain and Bush like to fantasize about. We're about to go busted. It's pretty hard to maintain an empire on credit when you have borrowed money from the people you claim to be lording it over. The Philippines kicked us out of our bases there. I predict the Japanese will eventually do the same. Get a stable government in North Korea and the South Koreans will be showing us the door. We should leave on our own and devote those billions of dollars to domestic priorities.

Bush is mad to push the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It should be disbanded, not expanded. It has no enemy. By expanding it, however, Bush seems to be trying to convince Russia that NATO is its enemy. That's not a smart thing to do. It's dumb. Talk about something that is not in our strategic interests, it's restarting the Cold War with Russia.



Back on March 28, Bob wrote a blog about Democrats voting for McCain. Hilary and Barack are many things, but at the end of the day, they should not be enemies. We have loyal supporters of both candidates who frequent our humble blog....so take a look at your fellow Democrat. Is your candidate bigger than the whole? Would you really want to throw America away just because your guy didn't win? Is it that important to you to have the first woman or the first black man as president that you'd throw the Democratic party under the bus out of spite?

In short, are you really sure you want to be a McCain Democrat?

Look before you jump. Democrats thinking of voting for John McCain should ask themselves if they want a hot-tempered, right-wing Republican in the White House - keeping his foot on the gas in Iraq, sentencing women to illegal abortions, and pouring cement around President Bush's tax cuts for the rich.

A Republican in Republican's clothing. McCain is, my friends, a Republican, a self-described "foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution." He voted against expanding the children's health insurance program and against an assault rifle ban.

Stiff the little guy, save the big boys. He's against the federal government helping thousands of people who lost homes in the subprime mortgage debacle. But he's OK with the Federal Reserve lending $30 billion to salvage Bear Stearns.

He's the eighth-most conservative senator in Congress, after being the second-most conservative senator the preceding session.

The Washington Post found that he has voted with a majority of his Republican colleagues 88 percent of the time this session. Some maverick.

Can't tell Shi'ite from Shinola. Our foreign policy expert, while in Iraq, said over and over that Iran was training Al Qaeda in Iraq. No such thing is happening. Iran, a Shi'ite country, has been training and financing Shi'ite extremists, not Al Qaeda, who are Sunni insurgents. No wonder McCain says we'll have to be in Iraq for 100 years. He doesn't know who's fighting whom.

Roll over, Darwin. On teaching "intelligent design," he said: "I think that there has to be all points of view presented. . . . There's nothing wrong with teaching different schools of thought."

John Hagee, McCain's cross to bear. If Obama has to answer for the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., McCain should have to answer for John Hagee.

Last month, McCain said: "I was pleased to have the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee," who runs a 19,000-member church in Texas.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue said: "Hagee has waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church. For example, he likes calling it 'The Great Whore,' an 'apostate church,' the 'anti-Christ,' and a 'false cult system.' "

Hagee has preached that God is going to use Muslim terrorists to create "bloodbaths" to punish us for our sinful policies toward Israel.

He felt that New Orleans had it coming when Hurricane Katrina struck. "New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God." How would he know?

Continued...



Ah, and now a little confession time...

I've been the token libertarian on two websites now. I can't really say what first drew me to the party, but over the years, I think it's served me well. I actually worked with Carla Howell on her abortive attempt to win the Governorship of Massachusetts in 2002. (Won by Mitt Romney, so you see where I was coming from...)

But these days, I'm not so sure about this anymore. I am still a member of the party, and will remain so for the next year. I'm also an "unenrolled" voter in Massachusetts, which gives me the flexibility to vote on either side in our open primaries.

Although I like a lot of what Ron Paul has to say, I was never seriously considering him as a candidate. In recent weeks, and especially since the endorsement from Gov. Bill Richardson, I've decided to cast my lot with Sen. Obama, and I'm looking into becoming a campaign volunteer.

Libertarianism is a big tent, and I have always considered myself to be from the liberal, live and let live, do no harm wing of the party, in marked contrast to the "drown government in a bathtub" types.

But this election is too important. I have some days off at the end of April, and on one of those days I'll be walking in to city hall and changing my registration back to the big "D".

:peace:

 

15 comments (Latest Comment: 04/06/2008 04:06:58 by Mondobubba)
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