John McCain's Dangerous Vision of U.S. Foreign
Policy
George W. Bush has conducted a
shoot-from-the-hip, them-or-us foreign policy that alienated the United States
from the rest of the world and led us into a disastrous war in Iraq. Every step
of the way John McCain was a cheerleader for George Bush's misadventures.
McCain was
an integral part of the neo-conservative circle of advisors led by Vice
President Dick Cheney that argued for a militarized foreign policy and the path
to "pre-emptive" war.
Every judgment this group made
-
That there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
-
That we would be greeted as liberators.
-
That Iraqi oil revenues would pay for the war.
-
That U.S. troops would be withdrawn
quickly.
-
That the world would rally behind the
U.S.
has been proven
wrong, and John McCain went along with every one of those
misjudgments. The consequences of these blunders led to the death of
thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis at a cost that has
risen to $10 billion a month. McCain rejects a timetable for American
withdrawal from Iraq - something that even the Bush Administration has come around
to - because he still views foreign policy through the prism of his experience
during the War in Vietnam forty years ago.
Now the neo-conservatives are returning the favor by supporting
McCain in the hopes of continuing the same kind of polices that led us into
Iraq. Their rhetoric regarding Iran and North Korea exceeds even that of the
Bush Administration. And McCain's repeated bellicose statements directed
at Russia - most recently in the wake of its shameful incursion into
Georgia - make it less likely that the U.S. will achieve the kind of
international cooperation necessary to reduce international conflicts and fight
terrorism.
McCain's recklessness is not limited to issues of
war and peace. He follows the George W. Bush path on free trade too; he even
brags about it. We will never achieve fair trade policies,
renegotiate NAFTA and other anti-worker trade pacts or make progress toward
international agreements that limit global warming with the kind of zero-sum
foreign policy advocated by the Bush/Cheney and McCain/Palin
teams.
John McCain:
Too reckless to direct U.S. foreign
policy
Election Day is in just 31 days
Early
voting is underway in several
states
