Subject: [big campaign] Re: PRESS CALL TODAY: Experts Respond to McCain Claim of Victory in Iraq by 2013
From: Adam Blickstein <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 15:34:49 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

The call was great. Below are a few quotes from the call, and a link  
to the full audio can be found here:

I think John McCain has been one of the most important voices on  
national security policy for many years now, so it really surprises  
me to see him giving speeches like the one today that are almost in  
"lala" land. These unsupported generalizations and predictions that  
he would have scoffed at as the old John McCain.  Lets just take a  
couple of examples, one is what he says about the future Iraq. He  
says most of the troops will be gone in four years, at that time  
there will be relative security in the country and that it will be a  
democracy. But we have no idea how that is to come about. It  
certainly isn't coming about by the present polices of the Bush  
administration and the speech gives every indication he'll continue  
those policies and so it's kind of a wild eyed, unsupported prediction.
-Les Gelb, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations

I don't think McCain has an understanding of what a counterinsurgency  
is all about...To project that there will be substantially reduced  
violence in Iraq and that Iraq will be a functioning democracy sounds  
almost like a campaign promise. For the troops that means a  
indefinite extension of the substantial deployments in a country  
where they are seen as occupiers...I am very disappointed Sen. McCain  
would make these kind of projections, which are fantasies, without  
giving any hint of how he plans to achieve them.
-General Robert G. Gard (RET)

When it comes to Iraq I think he's lost his perspective right from  
the beginning. If you go back and look at his statements back in  
2003, before the war, and predictions all throughout 2003 that it was  
going well and would end shortly and then each year he seemed to be  
telling us it would end very very quickly...But now what he is saying  
it will end in four years. Even if that were to be true, he's not  
shown us how you could get there, that will have meant the United  
States be there for 10 years.
-Lawrence Korb, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress  
Action Fund

On May 15, 2008, at 11:35 AM, Adam Blickstein wrote:

> PRESS CALL TODAY: Experts Respond to McCain Claim of Victory in  
> Iraq by 2013
>
> Washington D.C. -  The National Security Network will be holding a  
> conference call TODAY AT 2:00 PM with Les Gelb, President Emeritus  
> of the Council on Foreign Relations and Chairman of NSN's Advisory  
> Board,  General Robert G. Gard (RET), Lawrence Korb, Senior Fellow  
> at the Center for American Progress and Former Assistant Secretary  
> of Defense under President Reagan, and NSN President Rand Beers to  
> respond to John McCain's claim, made today, that he envisions  
> victory in Iraq by 2013, as well as other aspects of his speech.
>
> ***Call-in #:        1-800-895-1085***
> ***Passcode:       7MCCAIN***
>
> WHO:             Les Gelb, President Emeritus of the Council on  
> Foreign Relations and Chairman of the NSN Advisory Board
>                         General Robert G. Gard (RET)
>                         Lawrence Korb, Senior Fellow at the Center  
> for American Progress and Former Assistant Secretary of Defence  
> under President Reagan.
>                         Rand Beers, President of the National  
> Security Network
>
> WHAT:           Conference call responding to Sen. McCain's claim  
> of victory in Iraq by 2012
>
> WHEN:           TODAY Thursday, May 15th, 2008
>                          2:00 PM ET
>
> ###
>
> Les Gelb is a former correspondent for The New York Times and is  
> currently President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.  
> He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is  
> a member of the editorial board of Encyclopædia Britannica that was  
> re-established in 2005 after a 10-year hiatus.
>
> Gelb was director of Policy Planning and Arms Control for  
> International Security Affairs at the Department of Defense from  
> 1967 to 1969, winning the Pentagon's highest award, the  
> Distinguished Service Award. Robert McNamara appointed Gelb as  
> director of the project that produced the infamous Pentagon Papers,  
> on the Vietnam War. He was an Assistant Secretary of State in the  
> Carter Administration from 1977 to 1979, serving as director of the  
> Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs and winning the Distinguished  
> Honor Award, the highest award of the US State Department.
>
> He was diplomatic correspondent at The New York Times from 1973 to  
> 1977; later, between 1981 and 1993, he was in turn national  
> security correspondent, deputy editorial page editor, editor of the  
> Op-Ed Page, and columnist. He was a leading member of the Times  
> team that won a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism in 1986  
> for a six-part comprehensive series on the Strategic Defense  
> Initiative (known as "Star Wars").
>
> Gelb became President of the Council on Foreign Relations in 1993  
> and is now President Emeritus.
> Lt. General Robert G. Gard, Jr. is Chairman of the Center for Arms  
> Control and Non-Proliferation where his policy work focuses on  
> nuclear nonproliferation, missile defense, Iraq, Iran, military  
> policy, nuclear terrorism, and other national security issues.
>
> During his military career, Gard saw combat in both the Korea and  
> Vietnam wars, and served a three year tour in Germany. He also  
> served as Executive Assistant to two secretaries of defense; the  
> first Director of Human Resources Development for the U.S. Army;  
> Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for  
> International Security Affairs; and President of National Defense  
> University (NDU).
>
> After retiring from the U.S. Army in 1981, after 31 years of  
> distinguished service, Gard served for five years as director of  
> the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International  
> Studies Center in Bologna, Italy, and then as President of the  
> Monterey Institute of International Studies from 1987 to 1998.  
> Since 1998, he has been an active consultant in Washington, D.C.,  
> on national security issues, including the international campaign  
> to ban anti-personnel land mines.
>
> Gard has written for well-known journals and periodicals that focus  
> on military and international affairs and lectured widely at U.S.  
> and international universities and academic conferences. He serves  
> on the board of eight non-profit organizations and is a member of  
> the Council on Foreign Relations.
>
> Gard holds a B.A. from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and  
> both an M.P.A. and Ph.D in Political Economy & Government from  
> Harvard University.
>
> Lawrence J. Korb is a Senior Fellow at American Progress and a  
> Senior Advisor to the Center for Defense Information. Prior to  
> joining the Center, he was a Senior Fellow and Director of National  
> Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. From July  
> 1998 to October 2002, he was Council Vice President, Director of  
> Studies, and holder of the Maurice Greenberg Chair.
>
> Prior to joining the Council, Mr. Korb served as Director of the  
> Center for Public Policy Education and Senior Fellow in the Foreign  
> Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution, Dean of the  
> Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the  
> University of Pittsburgh, and Vice President of Corporate  
> Operations at the Raytheon Company.
>
> Dr. Korb served as Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower,  
> Reserve Affairs, Installations and Logistics) from 1981 through  
> 1985. In that position, he administered about 70 percent of the  
> Defense budget. For his service in that position, he was awarded  
> the Department of Defense's medal for Distinguished Public Service.  
> Mr. Korb served on active duty for four years as Naval Flight  
> Officer, and retired from the Naval Reserve with the rank of Captain.
>
> Rand Beers is the president of the National Security Network. He  
> served as the National Security adviser to the Kerry-Edwards 2004  
> campaign. Previously he spent 35 years as a senior civil servant.  
> After serving as a Marine officer and rifle company commander in  
> Vietnam, he entered the Foreign Service in 1971 and the Civil  
> Service in 1983. From 1988-98, Mr. Beers served on the National  
> Security Council Staff at the White House as Director for Counter- 
> terrorism and Counter-narcotics, Director for Peacekeeping, and  
> Senior Director for Intelligence Programs. From 1998-2003 he was  
> Assistant Secretary of State for International. Narcotics and Law  
> Enforcement Affairs. In 2002-03 he was Special Assistant to the  
> President and Senior Director for Combating Terrorism. In 2002-03  
> he was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for  
> Combating Terrorism at the National Security Council. Beers earned  
> a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.A. from the University of  
> Michigan.
>
> >
>

Adam Blickstein
Press Secretary
National Security Network
Direct: 202-289 -7113
Mobile: 617-335-0859
[email-masked]

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