John McCain and His " Straight Talk "

   John McCain was on NBC's " Meet The Press "  yesterday and still cannot get his story straight.

   McCain was asked about a statement that he had made while speaking at the American Enterprise Institute in 2005 in which he said, "If we can't retain the support of the American people, we will have lost this war as soundly as if our forces were defeated on the battlefield."

   Tim Russert: Haven't they lost the support of the American people?

  SEN. McCAIN: The consequences of failure, Tim, are that there would be chaos in the region. There's three--two million Sunni in Baghdad.  The Iranians would continue to increase their influence, the Saudis would have to help the Sunni, the Kurds would want independence, the Turks will never stand for it.  Some people say partition.  You'd have to partition bedrooms in Baghdad because Sunni and Shia are, are married.  This, this is a very, very difficult situation, but the consequences of failure, in my view, are unlike the Vietnam war where we could leave and come home and it was over, that these people will try to follow us home and the region will erupt to a point where we may have to come back or we will be compating-- combating what is now, to a large degree, al-Qaeda, although certainly other--many other factors of sectarian violence, in the region.

   Once again we get to hear how the terrorist will try and follow us home! Once again it is al-Qaeda even though it is already proven that they hardly make up 10% of the Iraq population.

  He fails to remember that the 9/11 attacks were planned out over at least a year if not longer and that the Saudi terrorist didn't just all jump on a plane and fly over here at the last minute to do their dirty work.

  If our security is as great as the Republicans claim it is ( no attacks since 9/11 ), then we should have nothing to worry about if we pull out of Iraq.

MR. RUSSERT:  The Pentagon's Quarterly Report, the director of the CIA, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, all have said that sectarian violence is the problem.  In fact, the--General Maples said that al-Qaeda accounts for only a small fraction of the insurgent violence.

SEN. McCAIN:  You know the...

MR. RUSSERT:  Who's our enemy?

SEN. McCAIN:  Well, first of all, General Petraeus, the general on the ground, does not agree with that.  Al-Qaeda is exploiting these sectarian differences.  They are trying to orchestrate attacks on both Sunni and Shia, but--in order to spark this and increase this sectarian violence that's going on.  Al-Qaeda is playing significantly.  Now, are there problems with sectarian violence?  Of course there is.  Is there other problems, such as in Anbar Province where Sunnis are now combatting al-Qaeda?  Are al-Qaeda being shoved out of Baghdad into areas outside of Baghdad?  Yes.  And are there problems in those areas?

    Why, Mr. McCain, of course General Petraeus doesn't agree with those reports! If he did then dear old George Bush would not have appointed him to his position as GOP mouthpiece for Iraq.

   On the fact that the citizens of the United states,and the majority of the Iraqi parliament want the troop withdrawn, as does the U.S. Congress McCain had this to say.

MR. RUSSERT:  ...then why do you stand there and say, "No, you can't have it"?

SEN. McCAIN:  Because it's my job to give my best estimate to the American people, no matter what the political calculations may be, as to what's the best in our nation's national security interest.  Young men and women are risking their lives as we speak in, in, in Iraq.  And I know that they will be in greater harm's way if we withdraw from Iraq, as we keep debating over and over and over again.  And I know what's best, in my mind, in my experience, in my knowledge, in my inspiration, as to what's best for this country.  So political calculations such as polls, I understand that if the American people don't continue to support this effort that we will be forced to withdraw.  But it's also my obligation to tell the American people and my constituents in Arizona that I represent, what the consequences of failure will be; and I believe they will be catastrophic.

MR. RUSSERT:  But the duly elected people's bodies, the U.S. Congress and the Iraqi parliament, say they want a troop withdrawal.  That's more than a poll.  Isn't that the voice of the people?

SEN. McCAIN:  Well, the--as far as the Iraqi parliament is concerned, the Iraqi government obviously doesn't feel that way, their--the representatives in their government.  Second of all, there is some, a certain amount of domestic political calculations involved there in what the Iraqi, quote, "parliament" said.  The Iraqi parliament has their ability to, to voice their views, and I respect them.  And I, as I say, I--I'll repeat again, I understand how democracies work.  I saw it in Vietnam.  I saw it in Vietnam. And I saw it in Vietnam, the predictions, that everything would be a worker's paradise in, in Vietnam if we left.  And thousands were executed and millions went to re-education camps.  So I, I believe that, that the consequences of failure, and particularly sitting on the large reserves of oil they have, particularly considering the influence of al-Qaeda is concerned, you will see enormous destabilization in the region, and that's my duty.  That's my obligation.  It's not my privilege.  And political calculations should not enter into any information or position that I take on, on a, on an issue of national security.      Entire Transcript

   Have you noticed how none of the GOP wanna-be's can talk about Iraq without having the oil at the top of their lists? the major oil companies must be paying the GOP and some of the Democrats above average to get this kind of bullshit commitment!

Tags: John McCain Iraq oil Congress al Qaeda

Is 9/11 Heroism Overshadowing Giuliani's Incompetence?

   Not enforcing federal rules requiring workers at the 9/11 site to wear their safety equipment and not letting the federal government agencies do their jobs (FEMA, Army Corps of Engineers,OSHA ) when they arrived at the scene are a few of the things that an article in New York Times says has occurred under Rudy Giuliani's handling of the 9/11 disaster.

   The Republican faithful will call this article a smear campaign and it should be one. This man wants to be president so bad that he threw whatever morals that he did have, out the window to score points for his BIO.

   His leadership in NYC after 9/11 is the only thing he can run in and that leadership has become questionable as of late. I should not say as of late because the info has been out there for a long time but no one cared until he decided that he wanted to be the next GOP president.

An examination of Mr. Giuliani’s handling of the extraordinary recovery operation during his last months in office shows that he seized control and largely limited the influence of experienced federal agencies. In doing that, according to some experts and many of those who worked in the trade center’s ruins, Mr. Giuliani might have allowed his sense of purpose to trump caution in the rush to prove that his city was not crippled by the attack.

   Giuliani did not force firefighters, rescue workers and other groups to wear their respirators is one of the complaints against him. As much as I hate doing this, I'll side with Giuliani on this one for the simple reason that the workers and the others should have had enough common sense to know that breathing this dust and other toxic materials in, would cost them later on down the line. You do not need an Einstein I.Q. to figure that out.

Mr. Giuliani has said very little publicly about how his leadership might have influenced the behavior of the men and women who worked at ground zero. Mr. Giuliani, whose image as a 9/11 hero has been a focus of his run for president, declined to be interviewed for this article. His representatives did not respond to specific questions about the pace of the cleanup, the hazards at the site and Mr. Giuliani’s reticence about the workers’ illnesses.

Moreover, many of the people who ran agencies for Mr. Giuliani or who handled responsibility for the health issues after he left office would not comment, citing the pending litigation.

   Of course he wouldn't want to be interviewed over this mess! It would not show him to be the great " 9/11 hero " that he wants the public to see.

   Now, about the federal agencies that arrived at the scene in very short time.

Despite the presence of those federal experts, Mr. Giuliani assigned the ground zero cleanup to a largely unknown city agency, the Department of Design and Construction. Kenneth Holden, the department’s commissioner until January 2004, said in a deposition in the federal lawsuit against the city that he initially expected FEMA or the Army Corps to try to take over the cleanup operation. Mr. Giuliani never let them.

  I wager that the Department of Design and Construction was one of Rudy's close friends, like the mafia guy.

  This man is no more fit to be a president of this country any more than George Bush is fit to be a president. I wouldn't let either Bush, McCain, or Giuliani be the president of the " do nothing club" which they are very qualified to be members of.

Tags: Rudy Giuliani New York City 9/11