McCain on "wasted" lives

[BayGBM]

First he said their lives were “wasted” then, fearing the political backlash, he said their lives were "sacrificed."  Obama did the same thing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030100270.html

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/01/mccain.apology/index.html


Why is everyone so afaid to call a spade a spade?  Their lives were wasted in a unnecessary conflict in Iraq.  I used to have some respect for McCain given his service to this country, but his hiring of the very people who trashed him in the previous presidential election cycle, genuflecting before the Christian right, and flip flopping on issues eclipses his credibility.  He is a little better than Romney, bu that’s not saying much. 

Anyhow he is too old to be President; if elected he would be 72 at the start of his term. 

[BRUCE]

Why is everyone so afaid to call a spade a spade?  Their lives were wasted in a unnecessary conflict in Iraq.

I strongly disagree.  You might not believe in this war, but the fact is we're there and we're fighting.  To say a soldier's life has been wasted in standing up for the freedom of others is something that is quite abhorrent.  Surely you cannot say that a soldier that fought to topple Saddam has had his life 'wasted'.

[Camel Jockey]

I strongly disagree.  You might not believe in this war, but the fact is we're there and we're fighting.  To say a soldier's life has been wasted in standing up for the freedom of others is something that is quite abhorrent.  Surely you cannot say that a soldier that fought to topple Saddam has had his life 'wasted'.

Oh really?

Oh and I agree with you in that their lives haven't been wasted. Thanks to them we're getting more and more of the world's most sought after resource and there's no disputing it.

[BRUCE]

Oh really?

Oh and I agree with you in that their lives haven't been wasted. Thanks to them we're getting more and more of the world's most sought after resource and there's no disputing it.

I also don't agree that soldiers' lives are being traded for oil, as some would have it.

[BayGBM]

I strongly disagree.  You might not believe in this war, but the fact is we're there and we're fighting.  To say a soldier's life has been wasted in standing up for the freedom of others is something that is quite abhorrent.  Surely you cannot say that a soldier that fought to topple Saddam has had his life 'wasted'.

Yes, I do think those lives were wasted.  A service man or woman should only be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice when it is absolutely necessary.  The conflict in Iraq was not necessary.  Saddam was no threat to the US.

The Iraq war was undertaken to fulfill the designs of a handful of people in the administration who were determined to go to war with Iraq.  Those people used the national fear and anxiety over 9/11 to take the US into Iraq.  Now, most people see this manipulation for what it was.

If I could restore the lives of those American servicemen, restore the maimed and wounded, and restore the billions of wasted money and return Saddam to power I would do it in a heartbeat and I think many military families of the dean and injured would do so as well

Lost American lives in Iraq are wasted.  

[AlliedPowers]

If soldiers died and no goals were achieved, then yes.

[BRUCE]

Yes, I do think those lives were wasted.  A service man or woman should only be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice when it is absolutely necessary.  The conflict in Iraq was not necessary.  Saddam was no threat to the US.

Saddam had openly admitted he wanted to destroy both the US and Israel, he had used WMD to kill before and the intel indicated he had more.  It's been proven since he had the facilities to potentially generate more WMD in future.  Surely ridding the world of a man that killed thousands of his own citizens brutally is reason enough to dethrone him.  One less despot.

[Dos Equis]

Saddam had openly admitted he wanted to destroy both the US and Israel, he had used WMD to kill before and the intel indicated he had more.  It's been proven since he had the facilities to potentially generate more WMD in future.  Surely ridding the world of a man that killed thousands of his own citizens brutally is reason enough to dethrone him.  One less despot.

I agree.  Their lives were not wasted.  It's really a dumb comment for a political leader to make.  I doubt the loved ones of those who died would feel any better if we found Saddam's WMD stash after we invaded. 

[BRUCE]

I doubt the loved ones of those who died would feel any better if we found Saddam's WMD stash after we invaded. 

Precisely, Cindy Sheehan comes to mind.  I hardly think she would go away tomorrow and rest if a nuclear weapon was dug up at the front of Saddam's house.

[ribonucleic]

I hardly think she would go away tomorrow and rest if a nuclear weapon was dug up at the front of Saddam's house.

Yep, if that thing that Bush said was true but was proved untrue had actually been true, she'd sure be exposed as a phony.

 

[BRUCE]

Yep, if that thing that Bush said was true but was proved untrue had actually been true, she'd sure be exposed as a phony.

 

How conveniently you miss the thrust of my statement.  For the benefit of others, as this far-Left loon won't follow the logic, I was merely agreeing with BB in that those who have lost family members (and oppose the war) are very unlikely to suddenly support the war if WMD are found tomorrow.

[BayGBM]

The real point is that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and posed no thread to the US.  Hence sending troops to die there was a waste of their lives.

We all know that Saddam had chemical and biological weapons in the past and used them on the Kurds, but those weapons were not directly used on American service men in the first Gulf War.  If he were intent on taking American lives that would have been the time to deploy those weapons.  By contrast the U.S. has very recently used white phosphorus.

[BRUCE]

The real point is that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and posed no thread to the US.  Hence sending troops to die there was a waste of their lives.

We all know that Saddam had chemical and biological weapons in the past and used them on the Kurds, but those weapons were not directly used on American service men in the first Gulf War.  If he were intent on taking American lives that would have been the time to deploy those weapons.  By contrast the U.S. has very recently used white phosphorus.

Oh please, you're saying Saddam could have killed Americans but decided not to?  He was annihilated by a force far more evolved and powerful than his own; this is why he could not use WMD on Americans.

Can you tell me the distance between Iraq and Israel?  Also, can you tell me how many American citizens reside there?

[Eyeball Chambers]

A service man or woman should only be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice when it is absolutely necessary.  The conflict in Iraq was not necessary.  Saddam was no threat to the US.

Absolutely correct. 

[ribonucleic]

Silber's penetrating ire is sparked off by the witless flap over John McCain's remark about the "waste" of American lives in shoddy execution of the war. McCain, like Barack Obama before him, quickly and cravenly apologized for letting this one little sliver of truth escape their lips -- for as we all know, it is poor form, a terrible social faux pas, to mention the rotting corpse beneath the canape table at the great Beltway Cocktail Party. The lives were wasted -- cynically wasted, diabolically wasted -- because they were devoured in the service of depraved criminals seeking loot and dominion, and for no other purpose whatsoever. Yet not only is it impossible to acknowledge this waste in polite company, one cannot even remotely admit that the entire action itself is criminal, that, as Silber points out,  it entails not just the waste of tens of thousands of dead and maimed American soldiers but also the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, shredded, chewed, gutted and sent into darkness by the honking goons and lumbering husks who rule us.

http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1055&Itemid=135

[Dos Equis]

The lives were wasted -- cynically wasted, diabolically wasted -- because they were devoured in the service of depraved criminals seeking loot and dominion, and for no other purpose whatsoever.

  Talk about losing credibility due to wild overstatements. . . .

[ribonucleic]

wild overstatements

That's Chris Floyd for you.

Whatever else you want to say about him, you have to admit he's not afraid to kick out the jams.

[Dos Equis]

That's Chris Floyd for you.

Whatever else you want to say about him, you have to admit he's not afraid to kick out the jams.

True, though I don't think that helps.  I think when a person uses language like that on a regular basis their words lose their shock value.