When explaining his position on Iraqi reconciliation, John McCain told an audience last year, “One of the things I would do if I were President would be to sit the Shiites and the Sunnis down and say, ‘Stop the bullshit.'”
This morning, in a similar vein, McCain told an Ohio audience about his vision of Iraq after his first term in the White House.
“By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom. The Iraq War has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy, although still suffering from the lingering effects of decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension. Violence still occurs, but it is spasmodic and much reduced.
“Civil war has been prevented; militias disbanded; the Iraqi Security Force is professional and competent; al Qaeda in Iraq has been defeated; and the Government of Iraq is capable of imposing its authority in every province of Iraq and defending the integrity of its borders. The United States maintains a military presence there, but a much smaller one, and it does not play a direct combat role.”
The irony is, at the outset of his speech, McCain argued, “It is important that the candidates who seek to lead the country after the Bush Administration define their objectives and what they plan to achieve not with vague language but with clarity. So, what I want to do today is take a little time to describe what I would hope to have achieved at the end of my first term as President.”
McCain has been Mr. Vague Generalities since the outset of his presidential campaign; today he predicted the end of the war in Iraq within the next four year based on nothing but his own wishful thinking; and he nevertheless feels comfortable lecturing us on the need for candidates to lead “not with vague language but with clarity.”
This is terribly foolish, and frankly, kind of embarrassing for a serious presidential candidate. McCain’s vision for the future of Iraq seems almost child-like: “I’m going to keep doing what Bush has done and hope things get better.” That’s his policy.
Yglesias added:
No word on whether or not there will be a pony in every garage. I mean, look, presumably when Bush first invaded Iraq he was hoping it would turn out well. When he warned in 2004 that violence would get worse if we left, he was hoping things would get better in 2005. But instead things got worse. Then when he warned in 2005 that if we left there would be civil war, he was presumably hoping that staying would avoid civil war. But it didn’t.
What’s more, Ilan Goldenberg noted that McCain has hoped for success in Iraq before, but sweet, innocent wishes never seem to come true.
“And I believe that the success will be fairly easy” and “There’s no doubt in my mind that… we will be welcomed as liberators.” [CNN, Larry King Live, 9/24/02. MSNBC, Hardball, 3/24/03]
“I think we could go in with much smaller numbers than we had to do in the past… I don’t believe it’s going to be nearly the size and scope that it was in 1991.” [Face the Nation, 9/15/02]
“There’s not a history of clashes that are violent between Sunnis and Shias. So I think they can probably get along.” [MSNBC Hardball, 4/23/03]
McCain was asked, “at what point will America be able to say the war was won?” He responded, “…it’s clear that the end is, is, is very much in sight.” [ABC, “Good Morning America,” 4/9/03]
Exactly one year before violence in Iraq peaked: “Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.” [The Hill, 12/8/05]
I’d just add that it’d be great if some enterprising campaign reporter could follow up with McCain for a point of clarification: if Iraq is not a stable, terrorist-free, “functioning democracy” in 2013, what then?
Oh, and one more: if McCain’s dream world become reality, and his wishes are magically fulfilled, doesn’t this mean his vision of a 100-year post-war military presence in Iraq would start in 2013?