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Josh at work Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at the National Center for Science Education. He is also a graduate student at the University of Kansas, completing a doctorate in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. When not modeling species distributions or battling creationists, he writes about developments in progressive politics and the sciences.

The opinions expressed here are his own, do not reflect the official position of the NCSE. Indeed, older posts may no longer reflect his own official position.

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« Odd debate moments | Main | Fluorescent jellyfish genes earn Nobel Prize for Chemistry »

Is John McCain sheltering al Qaeda?

Category: Policy and Politics
Posted on: October 8, 2008 6:14 PM, by Josh Rosenau

Transcript of second McCain, Obama debate (10/7/2008):

McCain: I'll get Osama bin Laden, my friends. I'll get him. I know how to get him.
Charlie Gibson interviews John McCain (9/3/2008):
MCCAIN: Well, look, President Clinton [had] opportunities to get Osama bin Laden. President Bush had opportunities to get Osama bin Laden. I know how to do it and I'll do it. And I understand and I have the knowledge and the background and the experience to make the right judgments.
Wolf Blitzer interviews John McCain (7/27/2008):

BLITZER: You're president of the United States; you've vowed that you will capture Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice. … What would you do differently [than George Bush]?

MCCAIN: Well, I'm not going to telegraph a lot of the things that I'm going to do because then it might compromise our ability to do so. But, look, I know the area. I've been there. I know wars. I know how to win wars. And I know how to improve our capabilities so that we will capture Osama bin Laden or, put it this way, bring him to justice.

BLITZER: All right. If you capture...

MCCAIN: We will do it. I know how to do it.

So, John McCain clearly knows how to catch Osama bin Laden, and has known so since at least July. Why hasn't he told George Bush? Why isn't George Bush implementing this plan?

Given the McCain/Palin ticket's ties to domestic terrorism, and the campaign's dalliance with anti-semitism, it's hardly unfair to wonder if McCain may not be holding back this crucial information in hopes that Osama bin Laden will escape. Because we know that John McCain is an honorable man, so it's impossible that he would simply be lying about having a plan to capture bin Laden. No, the only possibility is that he is in fact protecting bin Laden.

Comments

#1

McCain is just full of shit. He's lied about damn near everything else. Surely you don't expect he's telling the truth about knowing how to get Osama Bin Laden.

Posted by: llewelly | October 8, 2008 9:23 PM

#2

Uh, golly, ya think maybe McCain fibs a little? Or he lies like a rug?

Posted by: Globle Warren Terrism | October 9, 2008 4:34 AM

#3

Where did he learn how to win wars? As a POW in Vietnam?

Posted by: zy | October 9, 2008 5:18 PM

#4

JM: "I know how to win wars."

As far as I can tell McCain has only participated in one war. So it must be assumed that he learned how to win wars in that war. Which is interesting considering that we didn't win that war. So he knew how to win Vietnam but didn't bother to tell anyone?

Shades of the present where he claims to know how to win in both Afghanistan and Iraq but, evidently, hasn't bothered to tell anyone in the five years we have been engaged.

Of course the more likely situation is that McCain thinks he knew how to win Vietnam. He has offered, based on the typical assumptions of a combat pilot, that if we would have just bombed North Vietnam more we would have won.

This overlooks the simple fact that North Vietnam had the most effective air defense system ever seen. Which is how he ended up getting shot down. It also overlooks that Cambodia, a nation with few air defenses was bombed, in terms of tons dropped per square mile, more than any other nation on earth and it still didn't stop traffic on the Ho Chi Meinh trail. The truth here is that air power seldom decides war if it is not combined and coordinated with ground forces.

McCain, as a loyal pilot, has assiduously avoided understanding this. He has, quite purposely, failed to learn from history. He knows far less about how to win wars than he thinks he knows.

Posted by: Art | October 10, 2008 2:44 PM

#5

JM: "I know how to win wars."

As far as I can tell McCain has only participated in one war. So it must be assumed that he learned how to win wars in that war. Which is interesting considering that we didn't win that war. So he knew how to win Vietnam but didn't bother to tell anyone?

Shades of the present where he claims to know how to win in both Afghanistan and Iraq but, evidently, hasn't bothered to tell anyone in the five years we have been engaged.

Of course the more likely situation is that McCain thinks he knew how to win Vietnam. He has offered, based on the typical assumptions of a combat pilot, that if we would have just bombed North Vietnam more we would have won.

This overlooks the simple fact that North Vietnam had the most effective air defense system ever seen. Which is how he ended up getting shot down. It also overlooks that Cambodia, a nation with few air defenses was bombed, in terms of tons dropped per square mile, more than any other nation on earth and it still didn't stop traffic on the Ho Chi Meinh trail. The truth here is that air power seldom decides war if it is not combined and coordinated with ground forces.

McCain, as a loyal pilot, has assiduously avoided understanding this. He has, quite purposely, failed to learn from history. He knows far less about how to win wars than he thinks he knows.

Posted by: Art | October 10, 2008 2:46 PM

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