U.S. pays

John McCain on Iraq: U.S. pays heavy ‘price’

By JONATHAN TOPAZ

Sen. John McCain continued his blistering attack on President Barack Obama’s handling of Iraq on Friday, again calling for his entire national security team to be replaced and saying his decisions have been very costly.

“The president wanted out and now we are paying a heavy price,” the Arizona Republican said on MSNBC.

McCain said repeatedly that the U.S. “had the conflict won” after the 2007 troop surge, with Iraq maintaining a stable government and Al Qaeda extremists largely defeated.

But the Obama administration’s decision not to leave behind a residual force, he said, has caused the situation to deteriorate. Now, the senator said, “this has turned into one of the most serious threats to American security in recent history.”

McCain, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also reiterated his call for the president to fire his entire national security team, including Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey.

“Everyone on the national security team,” he said, when asked who the president should let go. “They have been a total failure.”

McCain, though, did not explicitly advocate a U.S. strategy for helping the crisis now, remaining noncommittal on the potential use of airstrikes against militants in the country. Instead, he called on the president to enlist the advice of retired Army Gens. David Petraeus and Jack Keane, two of the architects of the surge.

The senator linked the situation in Iraq with the civil war in Syria, citing the “failure” of the administration to commit resources in both of the neighboring countries. McCain has often slammed the administration for what he perceives as inaction in Syria and a lack of commitment to the Syrian opposition.

And McCain said that if Obama withdraws completely from Afghanistan, that country will also destabilize rapidly. “You’re going to see the same thing in Afghanistan if we don’t leave a residual force behind,” he claimed, saying he can “guarantee” it.

On Thursday, McCain, who had in 2011 called for troops to be left behind in Iraq to stabilize the situation, called the administration’s pullout a “colossal failure of American security policy.”

The senator has long been a critic of the president on Iraq, dating back to their 2008 presidential campaign. McCain, the Republican nominee in that election cycle, repeatedly criticized then-Sen. Obama for arguing against the troop surge.

(McCain is always quick to call for armed action but not much on other types of operations. His idea is to bomb and shoot your way out of any situation. Unfortunately McCain is stuck in a mind set from 1970. The Iraqi government wasn't going to cooperate so no troops were left, same for Afghanistan.

How would American troops be greeted? “I believe…that the Iraqi people will greet us as liberators.” (March 20, 2003)

Did Saddam Hussein have a nuclear program that posed an imminent threat to the United States? “Saddam Hussein is on a crash course to construct a nuclear weapon.” ( October 10, 2002)

Will a war with Iraq be long or short? “This conflict is… going to be relatively short.” (March 23, 2003)

How is the war going? “I would argue that the next three to six months will be critical.” (September 10, 2003)

How is it going (almost two months later, from the war’s “greatest critic”)? “I think the initial phases of [the war] were so spectacularly successful that it took us all by surprise.” (October 31, 2003)

Is this war really necessary? “Only the most deluded of us could doubt the necessity of this war.” (August 30, 2004)

How is it going? (Recurring question for the war’s “greatest critic”) “We will probably see significant progress in the next six months to a year.” (December 4, 2005)

Will the President’s “surge” of troops into Baghdad and surrounding areas that the senator had been calling for finally make the difference? “We can know fairly well [whether the surge is working] in a few months.” (February 4, 2007))