McCain avers there is no alternative to a U.S. troop buildup in Iraq. Despite this, McCain also insists he would try to come up with another plan if things got bad enough ("doomsday scenario"). McCain then concedes that he can't guarantee that a buildup will succeed (after repeatedly calling for more troops) but thinks it "can" and has a "good shot." McCain then departs from his longstanding indifference to what-the-American-people want (did you ask them if they wanted more troops?) and reveals that if Bush's plan doesn't work (more troops, you mean, right?) he would have to withdraw completely from Iraq if that's what the American people want. (No mention of what the Iraqi people want.) As if to reveal the real culprit for this mess, McCain promises that he would appoint corporate executives to run the Pentagon. (For example, the genius behind FedEx and Cisco. Why? Have they ever been to Iraq?) The man whose much ridiculed, staged walk-around a Baghdad market preceded some of the most audacious attacks (in that market the next day 21 Iraqis were abducted and murdered; in the Iraqi Parliament, and most recently bombing a Shia shrine in Karbala killing 37, including 16 children, and wounding 150) sipped cappuccino while he spoke to reporters. For the full story read this excellent piece written by my friend, Adam Nagourney (co-authored with Michael Gordon), in today's New York Times. (Adam pictured, right.)
Violence continued to spiral out of control in Iraq last past week.
McCain is both a hero and a fool to Steve Chapman.