Monday, July 21, 2008

John McCain Wants to "Muddle" Afghanistan

Today, I sent the following letter to the Grand Rapids Press:

A shocking new video shows that in 2003, in front of the Council on Foreign Relations, Senator John McCain said he was more concerned with the war in Iraq, and that we could "muddle through in Afghanistan" without a large number of forces.
Senator McCain showed poor judgment and forethought, which is disturbing given that he says this area is his strong suit.
While Iraq had nothing to do with the September 11th attacks, Al Qaeda, which had organized and carried out the 9/11 terrorist attacks, remained free to operate in Afghanistan. John McCain helped the US quickly squander the sympathy and support the world had for the US by supporting a war in Iraq that was unnecessary and disastrous.
We cannot "muddle through" in Afghanistan. We have done that for the past five years, and all that has happened is that the Taliban has recaptured a large chunk of that country, Al Qaeda is back at pre-9/11 strength, and Osama bin Laden is free and plotting against America.
McCain's strategy for launching a war in Iraq and staying there indefinitely, unlike Senator Obama’s, is a policy of retreat in the war on terror. It has made us less secure, and allowed extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan to regain their strength. John McCain in 2003 was horribly wrong – there was no "muddling through" in Afghanistan.


It was part of an e-mail campaign by VoteVets.org to get the word out about a video showing John McCain talking in 2003 about how he didn't think Afghanistan was as important as Iraq. After 5 years, no WMD found, and no terrorist links to Al Qaeda unearthed, McCain needs to explain why he thinks Iraq is so important and why we should be spending $10 billion per month to occupy that country – with no end in sight.

View the video here and get involved.

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