Reuters: McCain Says U.S. Needs 10,000 More Troops in Iraq

[MallRat]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States needs at least 10,000 more troops in Iraq (news - web sites) and must curb domestic spending to pay for the war, John McCain, a Republican senator and former rival of President Bush (news - web sites), said on Thursday.

{snip)

"We need to make tough decisions about where our wartime priorities lay and this means that we have to reassess our domestic priorities ... we simply cannot have it all -- tax cuts, pork for the special interests, ever-growing entitlement programs and war in Iraq," he said.

"Congress cannot demand discipline and sacrifice only of the men and women fighting in the desert. We need it at home as well," he said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&u=/nm/20040422/ts_nm/iraq_mccain_dc_1

[Wright Patman]

Canada is

looking better all the time. I sometimes wish my grandfather had stayed in Ontario.

[BlueEyedSon]

1. More like 100,000 - ask General Shinseki.

Hopefully they will not be US troops (calling the UN... hello!).

[Jacobin]

14. Figure I heard was 500,000 troops.

That's what we had in Vietnam..................:-(

[LittleApple81]

2. I have a proposal: let's eliminate the source of the problem: Bush*.

No more wars, more money for what is important. DOMESTIC PRIORITIES? can you hear SS, medicare, medicaid, children, schools, going down the drain?

[still_one]

3. 10000 troops?

that does not sound like very much based on what needs to be done

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. "We need to make tough decisions"

How about getting out of Iraq? That's pretty tough.

[trekbiker]

5. that has to be a typo..

100,000 is a more likely number

[KissMyAsscroft]

6. Yeah, that will fix everything...

And keep in mind that for every soldier on the ground with a weapon it takes 12 people to support them logistically...

Our crooked corrupt Congress would rather send 100,000 people to an early grave than admit this war of conquest was a mistake.

Fuck McCain, I really don't understand people's admiration of this lunatic.

[PaDUer]

17. It appears that the PA

senators offices are also "pushing" for young people to go into the military..I had the opportunity a few months ago to stop at a state senators office who are telling the young people, and college grads, to join the military since one of their workers from their office just joined the navy!! You can imagine what I said to him and walked out, and haven't been back. Let THEIR kids join any branch they desire and go off to Iraq!

[Vladimir]

7. Well of course

the poor should sacrifice both at home and on the front, while rich republican scum get even fatter. Great idea...

[Az_lefty]

8. 10,000? Not even close.

we ave 20,000 that were just extended and due to rotate back in 90 days. More like 100,000.

[GrndLkNatv]

9. Someone from my hometown would have thought the same!

Do our people in Iraq have the tools to do the job?

Are Bush and Company telling the truth about what is going on? This is from my home town paper!

http://www.grandcountynews.com/winterparkmanifest/winterparkmanifeststories.html#news1

"I'm in serious s--- here," he wrote, typing the message on his laptop, and sending it via satellite. "We are expecting to be overrun and may have to fight our way to a safe haven. Unfortunately, all of the safe havens are already under attack." True to his nature, he added, "I don't mean to alarm you. We'll probably be OK! I'll email when I'm safe."

[newyawker99]

20. Hi GrndLkNatv!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

10. Saddam had 4,000,000 troops

and an extensive secret police to keep order. We're trying to do what he did with 130,000 troops. Fat chance.

[saigon68]

11. WHAT ABOUT PRESCRIPTIONS FOR SENIORS

all the rest of It?

[bif]

12. "Ever growing entitlement programs"?

Give me a break. This administration has cut every entitlement program there is. Get rid of the fucking tax cut and get the hell out of Iraq. Let's take care of the middle and lower classes in this country.

[damnraddem]

13. No, we need 130,000 fewer troops in Iraq.

But as long as GOP senators are criticizing the Bushistas, that's something.

[atreides1]

15. This Is Typical

Nothing about repealing the tax cuts to the top money earners, no let's cut funding for the poor, seniors, children, and anything else.

McCain is a fool of the highest caliber, he would rather see children go hungry, and seniors without prescription medication, and veterans
without benefits. All of these come under the heading of domestic spending, and unless McCain is a total idiot, he must realize that his Rethug pals will cut these programs all in the name of paying for Bush's Folly. If he really thinks that the Retuhgs are going to cut out their pork, then he's has crossed from reality into Bush Land.

And anyone who disagrees will be labled unpatriotic and traitors!!!

[Leilani]

16. McCain is criticizing Bush, unlike many Dems

And he voted against the tax cuts. His plan was tax cuts for the middle class, same as John Kerry.

[atreides1]

19. Then He Should Call for Repeal of the Tax Cuts, Same as Kerry

Not call for cutting domestic spending. If he wanted to really to show
that he's critical of Bush, then he should call for a repeal of the tax cuts to the ultra-rich, not to cut spending for those that need the money!!!!

But he still supports Bush and the Republicans. What kind of a man allows a group to drag his wife and daughter through the mud and still provides them with legitimacy, not one I'd like on my side.

And tomorrow or the next day he'll be singing Bush's praises again!!

Myself, I would never support someone who attacked my family, and I would never support a party that allowed lies to be told about me.
If it were me i'd do what Senator Jeffords did, become an Independent.

If McCain does that, he'll still have the votes to win re-election.

[Leilani]

21. I agree with you

about McCain becoming an Independent! I emailed him & told him that.

I think he probably thinks he has more influence as a Repub. Jim Jeffords hasn t exactly been high profile or influential.

Let s face it: with the 2 party system, Independents dont have much of a voice.

[WI_DEM]

18. keep it up, McCain

This kind of talk will only remind people of the mess we are in and how similar it is to Vietnam.

[sjgman9]

22. McCain's right

Actually, we need 100,000 more troops.

Do we have them?

[Mari333]

23. send McCains kid

and all the young republicans
bring the troops home now
http://www.bringthemhomenow.com

[NNN0LHI]

24. McCain has 7 children and 4 grandchildren

Wonder how many of them are serving in the military?

Don

[Must_B_Free]

30. Send McCain himself

we need a man with experience on the front line.

[rfkrocks]

25. McCain is a strange one

He is so military that he doesn't understand that cutting social programs leads to instability in a country-remember Vietnam (oh boy-don't forget inflation which is on our doorstep also a Vietnam effect)but he is right about the troops from a military sense-I totally disagreed with the war and the evil "preemption"Bush doctrine but from a military point of view didn't all the gulf war one generals say that at least 500,000 troops are needed to properly occupy Iraq-but that doesn't matter now because they don't want us and the military can't be expected to nation build-McCain thinks we can win this one but there really was never any hope of winning this-I do think the draft would cause massive national unrest-the only solution is to get the hell out of there and reinstate the taxes which Bush repealed

[daleo]

26. "Escalation", thanks to Art Buchwald, circa 1968

"The American government announced that 1,000 troops have just landed in South Viet Nam. These 5,000 men will be used to protect airfields and vital installations around Saigon, though officials did not rule out that these 15,000 combat ready soldiers supported by 10,000 aviation personnel would be used to take the fight to the enemy.

An army spokesman said that the 35,000 troop landing was carried out by plane and sea and that the 50,000 man force , which did not include an armored division, landed earlier in the day, would for the moment constitute enough men to handle the situation. A Defense Department spokesman said:

If in the near future we discover that these 150,000 men are not enough, we will send in more troops, but it is unlikely, as 200,000 GI's should be sufficient under present fighting conditions."

A newspaperman asked if the sending of 300,000 fresh troops at this time meant that the U.S. "was escalating the war"."

It goes on, but I don't' want to exceed the 4 paragraph (or 500,000 troop) limit.

One of the finest satirical essays ever written, up there with "A Modest Proposal".

[JohnOneillsMemory]

27. Escalation, thanks to Lawrence of Arabia, Aug. 2, 1920...

T.E.Lawrence (of Arabia) Report from Mesopotamia on Aug. 2, 1920:

"The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honour. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information. The Baghdad communiques are belated, insincere, incomplete. Things have been far worse than we have been told, our administration more bloody and inefficient than the public knows. It is a disgrace to our imperial record, and may soon be too inflamed for any ordinary cure. We are to-day not far from a disaster.

>snip<

We have not reached the limit of our military commitments. Four weeks ago the staff in Mesopotamia drew up a memorandum asking for four more divisions.


>snip<

How long will we permit millions of pounds, thousands of Imperial troops, and tens of thousands of Arabs to be sacrificed on behalf of colonial administration which can benefit nobody but its administrators?"


source-
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/lawrence.php

[daleo]

28. They are both great warnings, from great men and great writers.

n/t

[leesa]

29. McCain learned absolutely nothing from his tour in VietNam

[burrowowl]

31. To be efficient,

we need 400,000 to 500,000 troops there, in Iraq (unless we daisy bomb or nuke). Our current strenght is around 1,500,000 deployed in zumteen countries around the world.
Where will these troops come from?
:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[Philestine]

32. Clone wars

You got a problem, who you gonna call.

Clones are us! - cannon fodder at your finger tips.

Just keep fuelling the meat grinder people.

[Philestine]

33. Between a rock and a hard place

Ignoring whether you agree with the war or not, it is a pretty tough question. I mean what do you do?

If you don't send more troops but maintain a presence, you are leaving your troops in an escalating military situation without enough support.

If you do send more troops you suddenly have committed yourself into a much longer term situation, power sharing plans go out the window and you find yourself being sucked into another Afghanistan.

If you pull out all together you have effectively gate crashed the party without a reason. I mean, if you did all this for world safety, is a power vacuum with some shady militants playing leadership lottery really an answer?

Look what another fine mess you've gotten us into. I call that a loose - loose situation. I think Mr Bush should start thinking about damage limitation rather than victory, and perhaps a new PR agency while he is at it.