McCain's position in a nutshell. As long as there's a shit ton of troops in Iraq, things will be OK

[Cant trust em]

Let's assume that the surge has worked. Essentially, keeping 150,000 troops in Iraq is what is keeping the country stable. Slowly drawing down will reverse the gains we've seen.

Isn't the next logical question; how will we ever get out of here?

[tekisui]

1. And the question to him is, How many dead US soldiers per month is

an acceptable cost? 25? 20? 15?

[Skwmom]

2. How many more billions will we borrow from China? And how exactly are we going to

pay for more tax cuts for the top 1%?

[bullwinkle428]

3. In other words, he really hasn't altered his "stay for 100 years" position at all!!

Why can't the sheeple figure this out?

[Cant trust em]

4. He said it again today, though in not as many words

We will probably hold some kind of residual force. Obama hasn't pounced on this yet and I suspect that he's waiting for the first debate. He's letting McCain dig his own grave. When Obama decides to toss the dirt on him, there won't be any room for a comeback.

[TwilightGardener]

5. I question whether our troops are really what's keeping the country stable--

In select areas where they're concentrated, and where we tightly control the comings and goings of civilians, certainly. But a nation of millions cannot be controlled by 150,000 soldiers, or even 300,000--adding in Blackwater/contractor numbers. I think the Iraqis--and the insurgents and troublemakers, and Moqtada al Sadr--have figured out that the best way to get us to leave was to lay low and wait. I believe the tribal troubles and the power-jockeying problems will rear their ugly heads as we withdraw, which will be blamed on Obama. Unfortunate, but true. The surge just delayed the inevitable--centuries of underlying tensions, combined with a fairly weak government that does not have the faith of the people, will come back to haunt Iraq as we disassemble our checkpoints and roadblocks and curfews and patrols and payoffs. We created an artificial "peace" that will probably not last, but only the Iraqis can stabilize Iraq in the long term--we can't do it for them.

[Cant trust em]

6. It's a total band-aid solution.

No one ever doubted that if we wanted to we could have completely occupied the entire country from the jump. The surge was designed to give breathing room to make some political reconciliation possible. Now that some of that has taken place, it is time to start removing some troops.

With the situation cooling down right now, this is the perfect time to place some pressure on the Iraqis to step up on their own. If even after we've made some progress we still need to keep this much of a presence, when will we ever be able to leave?

[Cant trust em]

7. Let me also say that McCain doesn't see the connection of our presence in Iraq

with our presence in Afghanistan. He hasn't addressed the fact that we have limited resources and two fronts to fight on. I don't know where he plans on getting the troops to address the issues in the tribal areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

[TwilightGardener]

8. The American people don't seem to understand that

we DO have limited military resources, as you say--they don't know that our military IS NOT now capable of even putting additional needed troops into Afghanistan. It's like we have a magic faucet of military might and money, we just turn the tap, we never have to worry about the supply. That's what McCain wants us to think--he never acknowledges what two 6/7-year simultaneous wars do to our military readiness and force structure. He is a magical thinker, and a scary fuck.

[Cant trust em]

9. The American people don't get it. It's our job to spread the word.

I hope that some of the armchair warriors on DU get out and hit the field this fall. I'm going to Wisconsin for a few months.