So Republican candidate John McCain announced today that if he is elected president, don't expect troops to exit Iraq until 2013!
While this is a step in the right direction (i.e. Republicans have been very gunshy about stating a timetable for Iraq), it is still noteworthy that McCain expects the Iraqi occupation to extend beyond even his possible term as president.
Keep in mind that the military invasion of Iraq began on March 30, 2003. That means McCain is projecting a war lasting at least a decade. On what basis, I ask?
Yes, we are indeed knee deep in the Iraqi sand trap. We have destroyed Iraqi families and infrastructure in an attempt to root out some bad seeds of dissent. The sum total of violent deaths for this war has exceeded 1,000,000 lives (both Iraqi and coalition).
As a closing note, let's do a comparison:
Iraq War: 2003 - ? (at least 6 years)
American Revolution: 1775 - 1783 (8 years)
American Civil War: 1861 - 1865 (4 years)
World War I: 1914 - 1918 (4 years)
World War II: 1939 - 1945 (6 years)
Korean War: 1950 - 1953 (3 years)
Vietnam War: 1962 - 1973 (11 years) Winner! (for now)
Persian Gulf War: 1991 (1 year)
2 comments:
Hey!!!
I saw this on Anderson Cooper, and I'm glad you wrote about it. Because overall, I think it's been a positive thing for Repubs. Atleast he's saying what he's going to do. McCain can focus on his real campaign for office. Here's the link for a list of topics he covered in his speech.
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/15/in-the-year-2013-after-mccain%e2%80%99s-first-term-in-office/?s-first-term-in-office/
Give him credit for talking about a plan for the future.
The saddest part is no matter how long we're there, the second we leave they will go back to the way they were before we got there.
Post a Comment