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McCain Has a Dream: Most Troops
Home from Iraq by 2013
Warren Mass
JBS
Monday, May 19, 2008
During a speech at the Columbus, Ohio, Convention Center on May
15, Senator John McCain shared his vision of America in January,
2013, presumably after four years of a McCain presidency: "By
January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen
and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be
secure in her freedom."
Follow this link to the original source: "McCain:
Most Troops Will Be Home by 2013"
During his speech in a critical "swing state," John
McCain painted an idyllic picture of America following his first
four years in office.
His vision of a post-McCain presidency included:
- By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen
and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might
be secure in her freedom.
- The Iraq War has been won. Iraq is a functioning "democracy."
- The United States "maintains a military presence [in
Iraq], but a much smaller one, and it does not play a direct
combat role."
- "Concerted action" by the world's "democracies"
will have persuaded Russia and China to cooperate in persuading
Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions and North Korea to discontinue
its own.
- In Afghanistan, an increase in actionable intelligence will
have led to the capture or death of Osama bin Laden.
- The United States will have experienced several years of "robust
economic growth"; a reduction in the corporate tax rate;
and the beginning of a phase out of the alternative minimum
tax.
(Article continues below)
No one, of course, can predict the future, and when a reporter
described McCain's speech as a "magic carpet ride,"
the senator retorted: "I don't think it has anything
to do with fantasy, I think it has everything to do with setting
goals and achieving."
Fine. Let's set some goals of our own, and contrast them
with the likely outcome of a McCain presidency, given his past
statements and track record.
- Iraq. Our goal should be to bring these dedicated, but exploited,
military personnel home as soon as possible, which should be
within six months of the start of the next president’s administration.
As Rep. Ron Paul has said: "We just marched in, and we
can just march out."
But a McCain presidency would likely find large contingents
of U.S. troops still in Iraq in 2013, still refereeing squabbles
between Sunnis and Shiites, still being killed by sniper fire
and roadside bombs. By then, the U.S. death toll will likely
reach 7,000.
As for "democracy," the near anarchy that presently
exists in Iraq is a fairly good demonstration of how James Madison
described a democracy: "Democracies have ever been spectacles
of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible
with personal security or the rights of property; and have in
general been as short in their lives as they have been violent
in their deaths."
Here’s a goal for the Iraqis: Since you have not been able
to write a constitution that works, you can copy ours, and learn
to govern yourselves as a republic.
- Iran and North Korea. These nations are entirely separate
cases. In Iran, we reap the results of having destabilized the
U.S.-friendly Shah in years past, but nevertheless, Iran is
no threat to the United States, particularly if it were not
made paranoid by the perpetual U.S. military presence in the
region. Economic and trade incentives (and I don't mean
subsidies or foreign aid!) alone would be sufficient to bring
Iran into line.
One concern, should McCain assume the presidency, is that he
may continue to entertain the possibility of waging a preemptive
strike against Iran, which very likely would have the same effect
as our preemptive strike against Iraq. With U.S. troops bogged
down in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and in Iran, how could the U.S.
military support such operations? One likely scenario, a return
to a military draft during McCain's first four years in
office.
As for North Korea, it is heavily dependent upon its
big brother neighbor, China, so stopping our suicidal trade with
that communist giant would be a setback to both tyrannies. But
with "free trade pact" McCain at the helm, we can instead
expect a larger trade deficit with China, and more progress towards
the establishment of a North American Union.
- Osama bin Laden dead? Yes, it is likely that bin Laden will
be dead by 2013 — of natural causes. After all he has many health
problems, including diabetes and kidney trouble. Captured? If
our intelligence wanted bin Laden captured, the mission could
have been accomplished years ago — after all, we had little
trouble tracking down Saddam Hussein. But then, who would replace
bin Laden as the designated generalissmo-in-chief of the opposition
in our latest orchestrated no-win war? You can't have a
war without an enemy. If bin-Laden didn't exist, our government
would have had to invent him!
- As for several years of "robust economic growth,"
that would require a free enterprise economy and genuine free
market trade, not more trade pacts. In an article he authored
for Foreign Affairs, McCain said: "To unite us
with friends and allies in a common prosperity, as president
I will aggressively promote global trade liberalization at the
World Trade Organization and expand America's free-trade
agreements to friendly nations on every continent."
John McCain, like most Republican candidates since Ronald Reagan,
talks like a fiscal conservative and advocates cutting spending.
He is predictably silent, however, as to exactly where cuts sufficient
to balance the budget would be made. A March 10 Reuters news article
entitled “McCain
Budget Numbers Don't Add Up, Experts Say,” observes: "McCain
would have a tough time cutting … the Pentagon's spending
because much of it would come budget as the United States fights
in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Joshua Gordon, senior policy analyst
at the Concord Coalition, a centrist budget watchdog group."
The article also quoted Brian Riedl, the Heritage Foundation's
lead budget analyst, who cited major obstacles to any McCain spending
cuts: "McCain's record on spending will be basically
defined by whether or not he addresses Social Security, Medicare
and Medicaid."
While economic predictions are almost impossible to forecast
accurately, we can predict that any improvement in our nation's
economy will originate from within the private sector, not in
the administration of John McCain, or Barrack Obama, or Hillary
Clinton.
And no matter which of the three is elected in November, we can
easily envision a national debt of thirteen trillion dollars by
2013 (remember that: 13 by 13.), up from $9.5 trillion today.
With the current crop of front-runner presidential material before
us, our best bet for peace and prosperity by 2013 is to fill a
majority of the seats in Congress with individuals who will oppose
all federal action and all spending not specifically authorized
by the Constitution.
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