McCain's 'Abyss of Defeat"

"We are no longer staring into the abyss of defeat, and we can now look ahead to the genuine prospect of success." - John McCain's prepared remarks on the Iraq surge set to be delivered on April 7, 2004. 

This just show how much out of touch McCain is not only with the facts in Iraq, but also with the wishes of the American people. His attempt to use statistics to bolster his claim borders on out and out lying. He also claims he will be able to rally the support of the American people to staying in Irag presumably for the 100 years he mentioned previously. Which is about the time it will take to accomplish this:

 "If we are honest about the opportunities and the risks, I believe they will have the patience to allow us the time necessary to obtain our objectives," McCain said.

We wonder which objectives in Iraq he is referring to; they seem to keep changing faster than a McCain flip-flop.

 

From the Associated Press:

The presidential nominee-in-waiting is closely tied to the unpopular, 5-year-old war. McCain was a vocal advocate of the troop increase strategy eventually adopted by President Bush, and is seeking to convince people the strategy is working.

In either Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama, McCain will face a Democratic rival who disputes the claims of success and seeks a swift withdrawal of U.S. troops.

Debate will intensify this week as Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker testify to Congress. Clouding their testimony is fighting that erupted late last month as U.S.-trained Iraqi forces attempted to oust Shiite militias from Basra in southern Iraq.

McCain planned to highlight a sharp drop in violence in recent months in his speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars at the National World War I Museum. From June 2007 until last month, when McCain visited Iraq, violence, he said, fell by 90 percent, and deaths of civilians and coalition forces fell by 70 percent.

"The dramatic reduction in violence has opened the way for a return to something approaching normal political and economic life for the average Iraqi," McCain said.

Despite the positive numbers he cited, 2007 — the year of the troop buildup — was the deadliest yet.

McCain warned against the swift withdrawal of troops advocated by Obama and Clinton, saying Iraq could quickly become a terrorist haven.

"These likely consequences of America's failure in Iraq would, almost certainly, require us to return to Iraq or draw us into a wider and far costlier war," the Arizona senator said.

McCain said that in the next 18 months, as Iraq conducts elections for its local and national governments, it will need more help from the U.S. and other allies. The country will need "a sufficient level" of U.S. troops until commanders on the ground believe it is safe to reduce American forces.