Senator McCain and his political magical thinking
On June 18th NPR News Hour with Judy Woodruff Senator John McCain huffed his way through an interview by calling Virginia's Senator Tim Kain a man who was telling lies about how it is Americans lost so much human capital in Iraq.
Even worse, Senator McCain rudely pontificated throughout the interview with newscaster Judy Woodruff. Will Shakespeare would say McCain was acting like a man "who doth protest too much".
It turns out, it was Senator McCain who was telling the lies.
In fact, Senator McCain is engaged in what some mental health professionals might call "political magical thinking".
In other words, McCain is inventing truths without evidence.
Iraq is crumbling today because the Iraqi people have traded one dictator, Saddam Hussein, for the incompetence of al-Maliki. It certainly didn't take a rocket scientist to realize it would only be a matter of time before al-Maliki would fail; but the hope was he would be toppled in an election rather than in a brutal military take over of the Iraq nation by ISIS.
Senator McCain knows the reason Americans didn't leave residual troops in Iraq is because the government of the now useless Prime Minister al-Maliki wouldn't abide by the rules of providing the US troops with immunity from Iraqi courts. My experience, living in the Philippines, recalls the vulnerability of all Americans when would leave the confines of the US military installations.
Indeed, we usually hired Filipino drivers rather than risk having a traffic incident in our vehicles, because the consequences far surpassed the nature of the incident. In other words, when Americans became subject to Philippine justice, the daunting process was extremely costly and sometimes never resolved.
Therefore, based on our experience living in the Philippines for three years, it makes perfect sense for our US President to protect American military from falling into Iraqi justice for perceived or real transgressions. In the big picture, al-Maliki is getting just what he deserves as he's fortified in a bunker in the American built Green Zone located in Baghdad. He wanted Americans out and now he's soon to get the boot himself.
Al-Maliki precipitated this current crises whereby a group called ISIS, an Al Qaeda-aligned Sunni Muslim insurgency, is claiming control over Iraq, including oil fields, initiating random executions and toppling one city after another in their tribal revenge for the overthrow of the Sunni President Saddam Hussein.
When the Americans left Iraq, al-Maliki didn't do anything to protect the new political order of the nation to include the Sunni's in his government. Not only did he kick out the Americans but he didn't include Sunni's in any meaningful way in the government. Now, al-Maliki is about to be kicked out of Iraq as well.
So, John McCain is doing a litany of interviews, acting like he has magical powers to fix what his Republican party started when President W. Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq, for the purpose of destroying Weapons of Mass Destruction, which never existed.
Senator John McCain should be apologizing to the sad families of 4,486 casualties of the Iraq War and thousands of others who were harmed by the violence caused in the process of the invasion. Rather than engage in political magical thinking, Senator McCain should be supporting President Barack Obama's intentions to protect American security and personnel without engaging our military in any further expensive debacles, without an exit strategy.
The only reason President Obama is compelled to send any troops, whatsoever, back into Iraq is because of the Republicans'
failed war to defend oil fields, under the pretext of destroying mythical Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Sending more US support to prop up the Iraq government in Baghdad will put American lives at risk again. Yet, Senator McCain believes more involvement will make for better outcomes. He has no proof for his magical theories, but thousands of causalities are evidence of his misguided thinking.
It's time the American people are told the truth about Iraq rather than subjected to political magical thinking and lectures by Senator John McCain. And the truth is this - Iraq is a Republican made disaster, but it's taking a very reluctant Democratic president's cautious leadership to save what our US blood shed to defend, without cause to do so.
Even worse, Senator McCain rudely pontificated throughout the interview with newscaster Judy Woodruff. Will Shakespeare would say McCain was acting like a man "who doth protest too much".
It turns out, it was Senator McCain who was telling the lies.
In fact, Senator McCain is engaged in what some mental health professionals might call "political magical thinking".
In other words, McCain is inventing truths without evidence.
Iraq is crumbling today because the Iraqi people have traded one dictator, Saddam Hussein, for the incompetence of al-Maliki. It certainly didn't take a rocket scientist to realize it would only be a matter of time before al-Maliki would fail; but the hope was he would be toppled in an election rather than in a brutal military take over of the Iraq nation by ISIS.
Senator McCain knows the reason Americans didn't leave residual troops in Iraq is because the government of the now useless Prime Minister al-Maliki wouldn't abide by the rules of providing the US troops with immunity from Iraqi courts. My experience, living in the Philippines, recalls the vulnerability of all Americans when would leave the confines of the US military installations.
Indeed, we usually hired Filipino drivers rather than risk having a traffic incident in our vehicles, because the consequences far surpassed the nature of the incident. In other words, when Americans became subject to Philippine justice, the daunting process was extremely costly and sometimes never resolved.
Therefore, based on our experience living in the Philippines for three years, it makes perfect sense for our US President to protect American military from falling into Iraqi justice for perceived or real transgressions. In the big picture, al-Maliki is getting just what he deserves as he's fortified in a bunker in the American built Green Zone located in Baghdad. He wanted Americans out and now he's soon to get the boot himself.
Al-Maliki precipitated this current crises whereby a group called ISIS, an Al Qaeda-aligned Sunni Muslim insurgency, is claiming control over Iraq, including oil fields, initiating random executions and toppling one city after another in their tribal revenge for the overthrow of the Sunni President Saddam Hussein.
When the Americans left Iraq, al-Maliki didn't do anything to protect the new political order of the nation to include the Sunni's in his government. Not only did he kick out the Americans but he didn't include Sunni's in any meaningful way in the government. Now, al-Maliki is about to be kicked out of Iraq as well.
So, John McCain is doing a litany of interviews, acting like he has magical powers to fix what his Republican party started when President W. Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq, for the purpose of destroying Weapons of Mass Destruction, which never existed.
Senator John McCain should be apologizing to the sad families of 4,486 casualties of the Iraq War and thousands of others who were harmed by the violence caused in the process of the invasion. Rather than engage in political magical thinking, Senator McCain should be supporting President Barack Obama's intentions to protect American security and personnel without engaging our military in any further expensive debacles, without an exit strategy.
The only reason President Obama is compelled to send any troops, whatsoever, back into Iraq is because of the Republicans'
failed war to defend oil fields, under the pretext of destroying mythical Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Sending more US support to prop up the Iraq government in Baghdad will put American lives at risk again. Yet, Senator McCain believes more involvement will make for better outcomes. He has no proof for his magical theories, but thousands of causalities are evidence of his misguided thinking.
It's time the American people are told the truth about Iraq rather than subjected to political magical thinking and lectures by Senator John McCain. And the truth is this - Iraq is a Republican made disaster, but it's taking a very reluctant Democratic president's cautious leadership to save what our US blood shed to defend, without cause to do so.
Labels: Judy Woodruff
posted by Juliana L'Heureux | 12:36 PM
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