Does he understand the cost of staying in Iraq for 100 years? This is the same guy who said quote "I don't undrestand Economics" I guess the answer is no!

Just a simple question Senator…Did the US win in Vietnam??

McCain is a nut.

Based on the posted comments, it would appear that there is tremendous denial of the global threat that terrorism presents. John McCain understands this, Joe Lieberman understand this, that's why these two staked their respective political careers on it. We underestimate this threat at our own peril. That's not fear-mongering. It's just reality. Wake up!

John McCain is destroying America.

just more business as usual from teh republicans. Business being war and death and and making a profit from it.

We need to invest in alternative energy R & D for the long term to decrease our dependence on foreign oil. You most likely drive a car and use a computer to post your comment. Look around your house and see how much you depend on electricity and oil. We don't even have a working public transportation system unless you live in a big city.

You can't blame our governoment for fighting for our energy resources, and then you go ahead and use more energy produced from foreign oil. We just cannot have it both ways. The very existence of our forces is to protect our national interests, which is the bottom line.

We can't change what already happened. If Iran occupies Iraq, it will take more than 4,000 American lives to calm down Middle East as Saudi Arabia doesn't like to be neighbor to Iran. Any unrest in Middle East will upset the foreign oil supply to the U.S. and many other countries.

I like biking, and I think if the oil price goes up, we will use less oil and it's better for our environment. But do you?

Hillary Clinton is a wonderful legislator, Barack Obama an inspiring orator, but John McCain is a great man and the best choice to lead this country.

I live in China. McCain is right. It will weaken America to seem to have lost the war.

100 year of Bombing. He is all for staying over there forever.

Thank God we can still afford this war….I mean thank God China still lets us borrow money from them to fund this war.!!!!

Mr. John McCain. your brains is old and lack reasoning. I have watched you closely. your word "were are succeeding …" what is it we are succeeding? dead young men and women, sons and daughter, husbands and wives, love ones? tell me. if you had been killed in Vietnam would you have claim success? let Bush and Cheney and yourself since you are such a war hero who know the tactics be on the front lines and succeed. When you went to Irag, how many of the brave soldiers has to risk their lives for you to walk around. and even that tell me if you didn't feel threatened.

you are missing the point. these are people who don't even care of their own lives so, tell me what is the value of someone's live.

MCCRAZY will be the end of us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I voted for McCain eight years ago but he has long since abandoned any of his straight talk and instead has become a mouthpiece for bumbler in the White House. Even though he talks against torture he always comes to support the Torturer in Chief. How can this country afford to support another country like we support South Korea and Japan. Let's hear some straight talk about the complete mess that Bush created and McCain defended and wants to avoid making the difficult decision to get us out of.

Those Obama folks do want to live in a fairytale like Clinton said.
Wouldn't it be great if someone could really do all he says he can do!
Let's see some solutions to world problems discussed by all candidates. That is what we all want to know. Who has the best format for solving our countries problems and making us strong!

NW soldier February 15th, 2008 11:15 am ET

I have been in Iraq, I know what it looks like on the ground there. McCain is correct; if we leave we will be back. Iran will attempt to step in and the place will really become chaos. If you're a middle or lower income family supporting either of the Dem. candidates ask yourself this: How much to you think oil is going to go to if we pull out of Iraq and Iran attempts to step in

This just shows that you (and McCain) are incapable of thinking outside the box! Why do you think the Dem candidates are heavily advocating alternative fuels?? We MUST get off of oil….PERIOD! The U.S. security is directly tied to our dependance on oil…..IN ADDITION, innovation in alternative fuels will be similar to the dotcom boom and create MILLIONS of new jobs….THAT'S WHY WE NEED CHANGE…THE SAME OLD POLITICS JUST WON'T DO!!!!

Johnson is 100% right. We as Americans don't understand Islam and feel like its our right to force democracy on the entire world. The Middle East has been in chaos since the beginning of time and we are not going to solve their problems. Staying in Iraq will just result in more American deaths, skyrocketing deficits (especially if tax cuts remain in place), and worse economic conditions at home. McCain is stupid if he thinks Iraq can be resolved through military presence. Groups like Al-Qaeda are grooming little children for terroist activities. So, as the current terroist sects die off, there will be a new generation that takes over that will be worse because they will all be brainwashed that America is the enemy, and a continued US presence over there will perpetuate that notion.

The Iraqi government has to start defending itself and if it can't , maybe they are better off having a Saddam like dictator running the place. Perhaps that sounds un-American, and trust me, I think he was a horrible person that deserves the fate that he got, but the fact remains that there were no WMDs and Iraq did not pose a direct threat to our homeland security. We should have been in Afghanistan like Obama says working on dismantling Al-Qaeda for good and once and for all capturing Bin Laden and his cronies.

All Iraq has done is allow for MORE Al-Qaeda groups to sprout up and create more theaters of combat that we have to engage in and continue to push our military to the brink.

Iraq is turning into another Vietnam every day and its time for us to realize once and for all that we made a mistake and need to get out of there. We can still have a small presence over there as we do in other places, but no more full scale occupation.

Show me a winner that quit something. My father raised me to never quit somehting. There is more saitisfaction out completeing something and not getting it absolutely right then there is by quiting. How can you hold your head up if when things get tough you just quit.

Quiters are Losers.

1st off I am in Iraq, and as much as I hate it, at least McCain will let us finish this job here. pull out too soon and this will all be for nothing. How about getting all these politicians out of this war and let the Generals run it and finish it! At least with McCain we have that.
Oh yeah for all of you that didn't Know, McCain has a son in the Marines that just finished another rotation, so yes he would send his own children to fight this war.
we need the iraqis to stand up .. yes you are right. have you any idea how long we train our soldiers? at least 4 months training for an infantry private.. another 2 to 3 years for an NCO. and you expect these iraqi's to put togeather an army overnight right?

The problem with Iraq was our attempt to make it into a "capitalist paradise". We went in there and tried to sell off their entire country to private foreign multi-national corporations and Fired everyone who had a job. They expected that the "shock and awe" would create the perfect opportunity to show how "great" a country would be if everything was privatized. Well…they completely misread the people. You can't sell off everything in a country to foreigners and kick everyone out of their jobs and not expect there to be a backlash. Of course people started joining the insurgents. What did they expect them to do? Sit home with their thumbs up their "you-know-what"? Nothing will change in Iraq until we allow the Iraqi people to have their country back.

I think people need to quit making more out of McCains statement of 100 years in Iraq. What he is trying to say is we will have some form of military in Iraq like we do in alot of other countries. It was a figure of speech and now people are taking it literally.
We have military in pretty much all the countries we have helped and fought wars in.
Maybe if more young people or those who have never been in the military were to go into the armed services they might understand more!
McCain is your best bet if you want a safe USA.

The republicans would rather spend billions on a horrible war they started, and spend more American lives in this war than to put that money to good use in the USA.

Wow, we got a lot of bleeding-hearts here!

Now why would we want to leave a perfectly good military base in a foreign country when it could come as an advantage in a future conflict? Let’s look reality in the face people; as much as you disapprove, there will be more wars and conflicts in the future whether it is them or us that starts them. "Bringing them all home" would damage our national security tremendously. Don't be so naive, the reason they hate us is because we're the cocky elitist at the top and everybody wants to knock off the guy on top. Bringing all the troops home would just make it that much easier for them to do so.

I know that you liberals are very smart, sensitive, and intellectual people, but don't let your emotions cloud your logic.

I watched him on Larry King last night and has seemed to struggle a bit…is this who we want to represent us on the world stage? I really don't think so. I look as his failed policies and pro-immigration stance…it's sickening! What reason do we have to remain in Iraq? No WMD's were ever found, Saddam is dead…I'm sorry, but why are we there?

10,000 years .. 10,000 years .. 10,000 years

I was never for this war. However, due primarily to policies conducted by members of Bush's administration a bad situation has been made into a nightmare situation. To my way of thinking, "we broke it, we fix it." McCain is not afraid of taking unpopular positions and I believe he is the only candidate who can get us out the right way.

100 Years??? It will be more like 100 days after November.

Regarding the perception of the US in world due to this war, I don't think it fair that we have become "the bad guy". Next time theres a big war and countries need saving you can bet they will come crying back the US. It happened before and will probably happen again.

Of course McCain would "clarify" what he meant when he made his "100 years in Irag" comment. Also, he said that Sen. Obama & Sen. Clinton's plans would lead to GENOCIDE….so he's worried about genocide now? So he must not be aware of all the genocide happening in Africa right now (and that has been happeing for years now). Thus, he spoke those words and didn't think. He made himself look ignorant. Because if he was really worried about genocide and protecting innocent peoples lives, he would be talking about stopping it in Africa in hid campaign. This makes me wonder really why they (Bush admin. , McCain) want us in Irad so badly….could it have something to do with a certain natural resource…?

It was a stupid thing for a presidential candidate to say.

I'm sick of presidents who say stupid things.

He should just admit it.

I agree with Johnson that there is no military solution in Iraq but is "getting out" the solution or will that make it worse? I'm not saying staying in is the solution either, but more that all candidates need to present a middle ground on this, this answer is not "maintain military presence indefinitely" and the answer is not "leave now with no plan".

This is the SAME argument that Republicans used during the last election, and little has changed in Iraq politically. We NEED to motivate the Iraqis to step up. John McCain's casual attitude towards the enormous sacrifices America is making is insulting.

It's not a matter of how long we're in Iraq. It's a matter of forcing them to be friends with us at any cost, because if we don't, they could actually decide for themselves what was the right course of action… JUST AS GOD INTENDED.

I have a simple question for Mr. McCain and all the other "stay the course" people out there…

How exactly do you plan to determine if we "have won" this so-called war on terror? How exactly do you plan to determine that the terrorists have left Iraq? How exactly do you plan to determine that the terrorists have not just "gone into hiding" - however they may accomplish that? How exactly do you tell a terrorist from a hard working family man?

Please be specific in your answers - and please actually answer the question instead of providing mindless rhetoric.

Thanks!

We shouldn't still be in German, Japan and South Korea.
"Just bring them home."

I used to respect McCain. When he toured the marketplace in Baghdad 2 years ago during the worst of the violence and then came back and said, "I was able to walk without any fear through the whole market and it was like any neighborhood in the middle of America," I forever lost respect for him. Why? Because what he neglected to mention (and what he knew full well) is that before they let McCain into the market, the US military had swept a 4-block section of the marketplace, had completely surrounded it preventing anyone from going in, and had BlackHawk helicopters flying overhead. So, from that day forward, it was obvious that the Straight Talk Express was over. It was obvious that he was willing to sell his integrity for what he believed would be a good political move. Shameless.

The point of troop surge in Iraq — as expressed when it began — was part of a bigger plan to bring peace and stability to the region so that the Iraqi gov't could meet a set of political benchmarks.

Since the troop surge started 1 year ago, they have met 3/18 benchmarks.

If you do the math, McCain's right, 100 years is too long. It'll only be 6 more years (3 x 6 = 18). Think about it, we've already been in Iraq for 5 years. What's another 6? Right?

And what business does our military have occupying soverign nations, exactly? If I'm not mistaken, American solders in Saudi Arabia were a major factor in why we were attacked in the first place. Oh that's right, they hate us for our freedom. That makes much more sense.

100 years?!?!? Isn't that a lot and a little too much info??? I don't even know what to think about this war anymore. I don't even get it……

Since Germany, S. Korea and Japan are our allies now and living in relative peace, why are we wasting money ear marked for the military?
Seriously, how many other countries have a military presence in multiple countries. Think of how many problems might be solved if we closed all of these bases. Maybe our military wouldn't be spread so thin and we could really go after the terrorists, the right way.

Why 100 years while he wont be alive by then!!! A dream without any support.

John McCain simply advocates 'more of the same', i.e., continued unwanted/un-needed presence in Iraq; chaos in all sectors of our economy precipitated by uncontrolled spending & back breaking national debt; continued, unmitigated greed on the part of Bush cronies across the country and around the world; and the continued
lies to and disdain for the American people and US constitution by a totally inept. contemptible administration. Yes, John McCain and the all enveloping Republican lovefest really have something to run on and advocate for the American people. Give us a break!

I will likely vote for the Democrat in November, but I believe McCain has thoroughly clarified what he meant, and people need to stop trying to spin the 100 years comment to mean more than it does. At the same time, McCain should recognize that both Clinton and Obama support a phased withdrawal of troops., and not spin it so it seems like they are saying, and on this day the troops will suddenly disappear. But I guess without spin, it's not politics.

How correct he is. Why can't the other two see it. Way too busy . I do belive Hillary understands. But for her appoinet , Yakied , Yak.

As of now , my Vote would be for McCain.

Good for McCain. I am so sick of these morons who take a statement like that, put absolutely no context to it, then run around saying, "McCain wants us to fight the war for 100 more years!! Don't vote for him!" Fortunately voters are getting smarter and look beyond the surface of one-sentence soundbites (I hope).

Nice parsing of words and "what I really meant to say was …" from the "Straight Talk Express". Boy, if I closed my eyes, I'd think Hillary was talkin'! These entrenched, double-speaking politicians curdle my blood.

Let's draft all the military service age children, grandchildren, etc. of all the social, political and economic elite of this country train them as Privates and send them in for the duration. My guess is we will be out in very short order.

McCain is on the wrong side of this issue. Iraq has only compromised U.S. national security, as evidenced by numerous intelligence reports and analyses, and the American people are tired of the senseless deaths of American soldiers and the squandering of tax money that could be better applied on our own nation.

Iraq should become the most important issue once again during this election. We cannot continue the insanity.

While I disagree with Mr. McCain's stand on several issues if anyone thinks we have no intention, and that we should have no intention, of leaving a standing force in Iraq they are living in a dream world. I disagree that this war should have ever been waged, I disagree that the surge is doing what it was intended to do, but the fact is because of the disastorous policy of approving an invasion of this soverign country for no real reason, we are stuck now cleaning up the mess. this will require a long term commitment. Not a fighting force but a PRESENCE in the area. We probably should (although it really angers me that we must) establish a permanent training base there, much like in Germany, send all the "troops" home, bring in some desert training experts and their families and start training troops there for desert fighting. With our dependence on oil we will be fighting there in the deserts again we might as well start training there and getting to know the locals so we will not have the same stupid mistakes that were made this time vis-a-vis cultural violations the next time we fight there. besides a base usually makes morde friends when the families are there then when it is jsut soldiers.

Here's the difference between Iraq and Germany or Japan, Senator.

Germany - not trying to kill us.

Iraq - trying to kill us.

Clear difference, I don't understand how you don't get that.

I'm voting for McCain. The 'powers that be' supporting Obama demonstrate the fact that he is NOT the one to support. McCain actually has some power in Congress.

Obama is the typical talking head just like Bush. I don't want to imagine who the Dems would select as his cabinet. Bush was just too scary.

The war itself was based on mis-information (lies) and has been a catastrophe from the beginning. Too few troops initially, the misconception that the Iriquis would welcome the troops with open arms….the list goes on. It is foolish to expend America's youth on a region which has to resolve its own conflicts.
Sooner or later the people of Iraq will decide their own fate and the US presence is only providing a common target for their ire. The occupation of Germany and Japan after World War II was an entirely different situation. In both cases, the people of the the country were united and not a conglomeration of fractious tribes and sub-tribes who were forced into a coalition and called Iraq.
The best that can be hoped for is a federation composed of the Kurds, the Sunnis and the Shia. However, given their history,it will be a region in conflict that the imposition of an occupying force will not help.
The phased withdrawal of troops will force the Iraquis to come to terms with themselves one way or the other.
Clinton's plan of withdrawal within 60 days is, along with most of her plans, ludicrous. Obama, on the other hand, seems to favour a phased withdrawal over a period that will give the Iraquis time to get their act together, but with no indication of long-term committment.
In the final analysis, it was a war waged in the wrong place at the wrong time for the wrong reason, but then - it's the oil, stupid!

Why do we need to have our troops stationed all over the world? I would rather have then in the US to protect us here than in a country somewhere else. The boon to our economy would be significant if this were done. I am sure that we would not not any foriegn troops on our territory to protect us. We should be about policing iurselves and not the rest of the world. If we concerned ourselves with our own business at home instead of everybody else's everywhere in the world, we would be a lot better off and a lot saver. We would also be a lot saver if we were not the worlds largest weapons producer and distributer. We send hundreds of billions of dollars worth of weapons to the middle east, and then say we have to send troops to protect ourselves against these weapons. I think we should be more like Switzerland. They are a wealthy nation and a leader in finance in the world. But they are not under threat of attack and others aren't jealous of them as some purport that others are of us. Let;s take care of our own and leave others to themselves.

How come everytime I hear the GOP I feel like i'm in 800 A.D.

"He said any long-term troop presence in Iraq would depend on agreement from the Iraqi government."

Oh, said we invade them for no reason, then ask them if we can stay…

He can't wiggle out of this. He is really into this war!!!

Quite frankly, I am tired of the 'I am a war hero' stuff. Him and thousands others (including mu father). You don't see them taking advantage and lapping it up.

100 years. Get ready for the draft.

The very presence of American troops and mercenaries in Iraq for the past five years has already caused genocide in that country, not to mention severe refugee and other problems in neighbouring territories.

The ongoing presence of US troops in that country will only ignite extrtemeist reactions and keep Iraqis and other people in the area under the gun.They need a break.

Yes, we can and must have a look at the situation, but there is no need for 100,000 US troops to be in Iraq engaged in a war.

What many of us are not realizing is that Bush and Mc Cain are afraid to engage heavily in Afhghanistan, which is where we need to step it up, and which is exactly whrere Obama said he would focus.

And why are they afraid?They remember what happened over there to the Riuskies.

Gerry

And Mr McCain, if he had his way, would plant US troops in every nook and cranny of the world in order to 'protect US interests'.

Is that US interests or corporate interests?

We need a new paradigm which will keep America strong but will also have us understanding how the world operates.We create too many enemies uneceesarily.We can't be wrong and strong.We need to get it right.

This is why neither McCain nor Clinton can save this great nation of ours.

Sounds just like something Bush would say…
Do we seriously want him as President?

What a fool. The only people we are killing in Iraq are our own men and women and innocent Iraqi civilians. Over 4,000 of our own and some estimates put the Iraqi death toll over half a million since our occupation of Iraq started.

But Obama and Clinton are no better– they "couldn't promise" a withdrawal by 2013. What right do they have to attack McCain?

McCain is cut from the same cloth as George W. Bush, he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer but he is the man the Military Industrial Complex has picked for president and he will be president. The republicans / the rich will keep their billions flowing in. Bush was a stooge set out front to play president and McCain is the perfect choice to take his place.

Oh yes, being in Iraq is just like being in Japan, Korea and Germany because they also have intense religious and sectarian conflict which manifests itself in the form of IEDs, headless corpses on the road, and the gradual bleed of American lives that are unfortunate enough to be stationed there. Not to mention we're pouring billions of dollars each month into all those countries. How stupid does he think we are?

To him and his war loving counterparts, winning = staying in Iraq even if no political or economic goals for the country are being met.

Losing = withdraw

Can someone ask McCain why we're not still in Vietnam?

I have been in Iraq, I know what it looks like on the ground there. McCain is correct; if we leave we will be back. Iran will attempt to step in and the place will really become chaos. If you're a middle or lower income family supporting either of the Dem. candidates ask yourself this: How much to you think oil is going to go to if we pull out of Iraq and Iran attempts to step in?

I don't know about you but $6 or $10 a gallon gas doesn't sound all that good to me. But if either of the Dems. take office this is what we'll get.

I'm a moderate/independent but my vote is with McCain on this on. I can't afford the gas now!

As an American living in a foreign country, it really saddens me to see how Americans must live so they can support this and all the past wars, wake up America, waving the flag on the 4th of July or watching jets fly over the football field shouldn't bring you happiness, happiness is job security, good health care, education and a home.

Mr. McCain is so gung ho about Iraq and talks of victory as if it was a game. Thousands of soldiers and innocent women and children dying and billions pillfered is not a game. This was not a war, it was an invasion and is now an occupation. Though Mr. McCain is a war hero, he is dead wrong abou Iraq. There is no victory in an invasion. There is only more occupation. How would he react if a powerful nation attacked and invaded the United States of America? Would he lay down and let them impose their will? What if in this invasion, they killed his family by accidentally dropping a 500 ton bomb on their home? Would he just chalk it up to a mistake? If Mr. McCain know's anything about history he should just remember that it was the founder's of our great nation who fought guerilla warfare against the tyranny that was England and that we never surrendered until we were victorious against the superpower at that time. Mr. McCain please define victory in this illegal invasion.

Why would anyone want to repeat a failed policy and stay in Iraq for 100 years just like we're in Japan, Germany and South Korea especially when our economy is at stake. McCain is completely out of touch and wants to continue Bush's fear policy. If Americans believe McCain is ready to be president then be ready for war with Iran as Bush and Cheney have planned. There will be no rebuilding of Americas image of war and strong arm tactics around the world.

Holy Frijole!

Is this guy you really want running this country? Someone continuing Bush's failed policies? Stop the imperialism, America. We don't want four more years of Bush - and that's exactly what you'll get with McCain.

As long as there is no casualty most Americans will agree with McCain. But the question is there will be sudden eruption of violence and our GIs will be drawn into harm's way, and take heavy casualty. That is the question he has to answer. If McCain agrees to put pressure on the Iraq Govt to take all the steps needed to get a political compromise with Sunnis and Shia, then most Americans will vote for him. For sure, if the inexperienced Obama is the Dem's Nominee, McCain has very good chance to take the White House because he is enormously experienced in all aspects of policy and Govt. Dems MUST realize the cultist following of Obama MUST stop if they want to win the General Election. A cult leader cannot be a President of USA, period.

The fact we have troops all over the world is the reason we are hated all over the world

Regarding the 100 years. McCain does not understand the point. He has a 100% focused military mind and does not understand the global economic crisis we face. That is the largest threat we face now. We can no longer serve as the global police. Responsibly, gradually we must start bringing these forces home: Iraq, Germany, UK, Japan and so forth. These large deployments are no longer needed. We must stay militarily strong and I am not saying we should not maintain a low presence but not thousands. We have had a BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) Program in the US. Let's extend that everywhere. The tax payer can no longer afford to pay that bill. There are higher priorities now. Do you want health care or support large deployments overseas? Those troops can be better employed right here working to build our own infrastructure.

What is the success we're looking for in Iraq? Sadaam is caught, tried, convicted, and executed. We found no WMD. what else is there to do…but that's okay Senator McCain, President Obama will lead our troops out of Iraq and you and G.W. can go over there and stay for as long as you want.

I believe Haliburton has moved their headquarters to Dubai not too far away. I'm sure they'll have a huge Success party for G.W.

I don't know what it is with John McCain but he needs to understand that it doesn't matter if you are in iraq for a thousand yrs, things are not going to get done unless you can bridge the gap between the 2 sects of Islam. The middle east has been a place of religious unrest for thousands of years. There is no military solution in Iraq. It doesn't matter if you leave now or a 100 yrs from now the result will still be the same unless you can unite the people of Islam. The chances of that happening are the same as uniting protestants with catholics and getting them to believe in the same things. There was no Al Quida in Iraq to start off with, we have created the problem and we are just maintaining the problem by staying in Iraq. If McCain wants to talk about genocide maybe he should start thinking about Darfur.
McCain's pride should not be the reason that our children, husband, fathers, grandfathers, mothers, wifes, and relatives die in this war.

This will clearly be used as fodder by Hillary and Obama, and already is being used. Those fools know nothing about the unpleasant realities of war, or the military in general. If we were in Darfur instead trying to really help, and having soldiers killed, would they pull the plug there too? It's popular, so they keep with that position despite the sense that McCain is making. You think he wants us fighting and dying over in Iraq for 100 years?? C'mon, be objective and see that we need to make this work.

I like how he said with the Iraqi Governments permission? Since when did they start asking for permission?

Mr. Bush…oh sorry that's Mr. McCain.
You just keep linking yourself to the Bush policies.
Much more talk of '100 years in Iraq' (no matter how you spin it),
and you can kiss your chances goodbye!