McCain Warns Against Iraq Pullout

quote:

"If we set a date for withdrawal, that's a date for surrender."

McCain's comments largely echoed his previous remarks on the war: he lashed out at Democrats, criticized earlier mistakes by civilian and military commanders; and asserted the troop increase in Iraq was succeeding.


He evoked Ronald Reagan's struggle against communism, saying the U.S. won the Cold War "on our terms."


"The war in Iraq has not gone well and the American people have grown sick and tired of it. I understand that," McCain said. "Like you, I want our troops to come home, but I want them to come home with honor."

http://www.newsmax.com/politics/mccain/2007/09/08/31080.html

Iraq report gives McCain a boost

From the war's start, McCain argued for more troops and was Congress' most prominent defender of the increase that President Bush announced in January.

This week, McCain launched a "No Surrender" tour of Iowa with a clear "I-told-you-so message." His allies hope it will give him a new edge over GOP rivals, including Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney.

"The difference between them and John is that John said it before anybody else, took the heat for saying it, and without him, there would have been no surge," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in an interview Wednesday.

"Now John is center-stage next week beating back political efforts to undercut the surge," said Graham, a longtime McCain supporter. "He will be standing with generals in the field against would-be political generals."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070913/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_...zvZ7j_Ej6N93E.ayFz4D


He opened his questioning of Petraeus on Tuesday by saying, "Some of us from the beginning warned against the (Donald) Rumsfeld strategy of too few troops, insufficient resources and a plan predicated on hope rather than on the difficult business of stabilization and counterinsurgency."

Now, he continued, "We're getting it right because we finally have in place a strategy that can succeed."

Within hours McCain was telling voters in Iowa that he had condemned "a failed policy in Iraq" from the outset.

"I was criticized by Republicans and others for doing so," he said. Still, "I saw it was doomed to failure, and I argued for the strategy that is now succeeding."

He sure did.

Even though I don't support McCain he did say the same at the start of the War.

Kinda pisses me off that he's not president now.....

He just might have been better guess we will never know I don't think he would have beat Kerry .

Here's another name for the strategy, troop rotation with longer tours.

yeah, you would know all about that... right?

Gunny Col.(Bud Day's word is good enough on John S McCain's Military record but his stance on Imigration does not agree with me.