December 16, 2006
Richardson: McCain "Dead Wrong" About Troops
In New Hampshire this a.m., Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM) will confront Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Iraq.
The White House is leaning towards adopting McCain's proposal to add tens of thousands of combat troops to U.S. forces in Baghdad in a final effort to secure the city.
Here's what Richardson says:
“The leading advocate for escalating the war is Senator John McCain. I have served with John in Congress and I respect him. But John McCain is wrong, dead wrong to think that we can solve Iraq’s political crisis through military escalation.”“There are no quick or easy answers to the crisis in Iraq. Our choices are between bad options and worse ones. Some prefer military escalation. Some choose staying the course. These options are illusions. The only realistic choice we have is to stand down militarily and let the Iraqis stand up and face the political crisis which only they can resolve.”
“I’ve been to Iraq and Afghanistan. I worked in this region...we should harbor no illusions. This withdrawal will not be pretty. People will die. But fewer will die than if we stay. There are no guarantees that our departure will end the civil war, but it is sure to continue so long as we stay. The Iraqis might, or might not, resolve their political crisis. It is up to them. They distrust and fear one another, and this makes it very tough. But they share one goal – they don’t want to destroy their own country. To save it, they need to stop killing each other and start compromising. And we need to get out of the way.”
Posted at 10:27 AM
Comments
Wow, sure sounds to me like Governor Richardson is reading straight from Senator Kerry's speechbook when it comes to these remarks.
Reckon he'll give the good Senator from Massachusetts credit for saying it first?
Nah, I didn't think so.
M. Loutre | 12.16.06 12:29 PM
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John McCain was a POW from 10-26-67 to 1973, about five and a half years total. During that time, he missed most of U.S. politics as the country gave up on the Vietnam war.
If he'd been involved in U.S. politics during that time, I don't think he'd be in favor of 'escalating' the Iraq war.
david78209 | 12.17.06 11:29 AM
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