John McCain: “We Live In a Very Dangerous World”
The GOP presidential candidate talks about national security and the nation’s troubled economy
Up close, John McCain seems almost diminutive, certainly more slender and physically fit than he appears on TV. He is 5-foot-7, weighs 163 pounds, and is in good health for a septuagenar-ian, according to his latest medical report. On a bright morning in mid-August, the polls showed the Republican presidential candidate locked in a tight race with Democrat Barack Obama, and McCain was getting positive media attention for his strong reaction to the Russian invasion of Georgia.
In a half-hour interview aboard his campaign plane en route from Michigan to Colorado, McCain gave a tour d'horizon of America's challenges at home and abroad. Excerpts:
How do your national-security credentials qualify you to be commander in chief?
Well, I think it's very clear that the overriding issue is the economy. Americans are hurting very badly, and we are in extremely challenging and difficult times. But I also think that national security is an underlying issue because we have just found out in the last few days that we live in a very dangerous world. And there are situations which can arise which are not readily foreseen, certainly not by average citizens who are going about their daily lives, that in my view require experience, knowledge, and judgment.
People can't stay in their homes, suddenly have lost their jobs, can't afford the health insurance, and that's the overriding issue of concern. And then we see a tiny country [become a] victim of Russian aggression, and over time they will tie that to part of our economic problem here in America and that's the world's energy supply, which is part of this whole situation in Georgia as it is evolving today, unfortunately.
Has the Russian invasion of Georgia changed your thinking on the energy question?
No, nor on Russia, nor on the importance of energy independence. That's been our message. I comment at every town hall meeting that we are sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't like us and that some of that money ends up in the hands of terrorist organizations.
How much of a benchmark is this in our relationship with Russia?
It's huge. I think it has implications not only for this tiny independent country [Georgia] but for the region, Ukraine, the Baltics. I don't think it's an accident that those five presidents came to Tbilisi to be each other's solidarity with [Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili, because they know that they are in the "near abroad" of Russia, and they have also been under the heel of Russian domination.
You say this hasn't changed your view of Russia. Does that imply that you would have anticipated something like this to happen?
Well, I've talked about it for a long time: They've murdered people in London. They've used oil as a weapon, most recently against the Czech Republic. They have threatened Georgia on several occasions. They brutally repressed Chechnya. There's been a series of measures taken by [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin since he came to power that indicated what Russian ambitions are, what Putin's ambitions are, and that is the restoration of the old Russian empire, and that means the "near abroad," where surrounding countries are either vassals or clients.
By the way, let me quickly add one point: I don't think we're going to reignite the Cold War. I don't think there's going to be a nuclear confrontation with Russia. I don't think there's going to be a Cuban missile crisis. I do think that there's going to be a dramatically different relationship unless the Russians change their behavior.
Are you satisfied with President Bush's response?
I'm pleased at the remarks that he made and the statements that he made, and the policies.
What is your view of how important personal diplomacy is in a president's dealings with other leaders?
We should always try to maintain relations and communications with every country in the world and every major leader. But you never confuse national interests with personal relationships. I certainly would maintain communications with them constantly, but personal relationships have very little to do with national interests.
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Reader Comments
John McCain and Propaganda Campaign Ads
John McCain and propaganda campaign Ads
McCain's Ad:
Voice states: "Who is Barack Obama? He says our troops in Afghanistan are...
Obamas voice: "...just air-raiding villages and killing civilians..."
What Obama actually said: "More troops are needed in Afghanistan." "We've got to get the job done there, and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there."
Voice states: How dishonorable. Congressional liberals voted repeatly to cut off funding to our troops, increasing the risk on their lives...
The fact is Obama voted in 2007 against a measure to put $94 billion into the Iraq War, because there was no timetable of troop withdrawals in the proposal. Obama supports our military. He wants the troops to come home from Iraq. Obama agrees with McCain to funding the military.
McCain voted against funding the troops in Iraq because a different proposal contained a timetable of withdrawal of troops in Iraq. McCain said in the first debate that Iraq is "the hundred year war".
The Iraqi government and the US government have been in negotiations about the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. The current pact states the US troops will leave Iraqi cities by the end of June 2009 with complete US troop withdrawals by December 31, 2011. Unless the Iraqi government requests the troops stay longer.
The pressure is on to have the pact agreement signed before the United Nations mandate expires on December 31, 2008, which would provide no legal basis for US military to be in Iraq. There are currently no negotiations with the United Nations to renew the mandate. Even if there were the mandate could be refused or not approved.
The current Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki and the ruling Shiite coalition have not come to any agreement. The United Iraqi Alliance want unspecified changes made to the pact before agreeing to it. The streets of Baghdad have been filled with protests of tens of thousands of mainly Shiites against any pact agreement. The Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his followers are against the signing of the pact as in its current form. Even Sunni lawmakers are against the current pact.
Besides the agreeing and signing a pact between the US government and the Iraqi government which is creating division and greater distrust of the US military in Iraq. The upcoming elections in January are creating division between Shiite tribes. This could be a major setback in any agreement signing before the end of the year. Since there are at least 200 different Shiite tribes a new internal battle for power and new riots and violence could be yet to come.
How is the US going to settle disputes between so many different tribal parties without a new religious war breaking out within Iraq? Government in Iraq is not based on political freedom but on religious beliefs.
The US needs to agree to having US troops leave.
McCain
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..Again McCain is playing the FEAR CARD as does President Bush -.- Always talking about war lieke it is something romantic. Longing for his glory days - welcomed as a hero. He has spent over twenty (20) years in congress,doing his masters bidding.
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...As he re-invents himself again in the last days of the campaign he has thrown out the rules - that can best be judged as another of his Flip-Flops -.- An Honest Issue Based Campaign It Isn't.
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..I would say it's more of a BUSH - Lie, Cheat, Steal BASED campaign....Weapons of Mass Destruction (lie) Granting Himself Immunity (from both the wiretaps and the TORTURE) (CHEAT or trying to cheat JUSTICE) ..... AND WANT TO OR NOT THE $700 Billion Dollare Bailout Is The Most Expensive Sham (PONZI SCHEME) The World Has Ever Seen (STEAL - watch the money disappear).
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....His support of President is nothing more than BLIND LOYALITY.....The Kind of Mentaliy of Organized Crime - Alberto Gonzales/Scooter Libby/Karl Rove/Abrahoff//and ofcourse Mr.? Cheney's use of the SECRECY ACT.....
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i think mcCain should lose becouse he is not planning on changin canyting obama will!!!!
a vote for mcCain is basicly keppin bush
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