McCain Endorsed Escalation Despite Suggesting 20,000 Additional Troops Were Too Few To Win The War. When asked prior to Bush’s announced escalation if 20,000 troops were enough to control the situation in Iraq, McCain suggested it was not enough. Matt Lauer of NBC News asked McCain, “You have long called for more troops …Will 20,000 do the job in your opinion?” to which McCain replied, “I’m not sure. …But to make it of a short duration and a small size would be the worst of all options to exercise in my view.” Despite that assessment, 6 days later, on January 10, McCain agreed that Bush’s plan to send just over 21,000 additional forces to Iraq was enough forces to provide an adequate surge. When asked if it was enough, McCain said, “I think so…I think it meets our criteria.” [1]
McCain Focuses On The “Bright Side” Of The Iraq War, Saying “We’re On The Right Track.” On March 1, 2006, McCain played down the increasing civil violence in Iraq. When host Don Imus remarked that Iraq “already looks like a civil war,” McCain responded, saying, “I keep trying to look at the bright side of this because we have to because the consequences of failure are catastrophic.” McCain added, “I think, at least we’re on the right track here.” [2]
After Missing Congress’ Three Most Crucial Iraq War Votes, McCain Was Present for the Fourth. Despite missing the first three most crucial Iraq war votes and several others this Congressional session, Senator McCain decided to be present on the Senate floor and cast a vote on what he considers to be the most important issue—Iraq. McCain has already missed has missed 37 votes over all (31.9%) during is the current Congress. [3]
Recent Iraq stories
He Must Have Missed The Memo
McCain's Iraq policy is out of touch:
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McCain Watch: Iraq: McCain Has Been Wrong From the Start -- Just Like Bush
Today, more McCain surrogates and a web video attacking Barack Obama which could have been produced on "Fantasy Island," will be trotted out in an effort to distract attention from John McCain's real record on Iraq--a record of being inconsistent and being wrong, just like President Bush.
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When Will McCain Bring Them Home?
It's the question that our latest ad, as Greg Sargent at TPM Election Central points out, seeks to answer:
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McCain: Bringing Troops Home "Not Too Important"
This is a pretty shocking statement for a lot of reasons. First, the story and video, from TPM Election Central:
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McCain's 100 Year Pledge... of Unlimited Troops
Brian Williams asked McCain about his support for 100 years in Iraq and whether he will support "however many U.S. troops are required."
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[NBC News, 1/4/07; CNN.com, 1/10/07; AP, 1/12/07]
[MSNBC, 3/1/06; ABC News, 2/26/06]
[Chicago Tribune, 3/16/07; Washington Post, 3/26/07; Washington Post Congressional Database]