Subject: [big campaign] McCain Embraces 16-Month Withdrawal: 'I Think It's A Pretty Good Timetable'
From: "Adam Jentleson (CAPAF)" <[email-masked]>
To: "big campaign" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:03:36 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

Video at the link.

McCain Embraces 16-Month Withdrawal: 'I Think It's A Pretty Good
Timetable' <http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/25/mccain-timeline/> 

Following Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's declaration of support
<http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,566841,00.html>  for a
16-month withdrawal timeline from Iraq, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been
struggling to respond. He spent most of this week
<http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/25/rollins/index.html>
railing against any "artificial timetable" for withdrawal from Iraq,
vaguely insisting that the U.S. will withdraw only "with victory": 

	"[Obama showed] 'a remarkable failure to understand the facts on
the ground' by continuing to call for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from
Iraq on a fixed timetable." [Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/24/08
<http://www.mercurynews.com/nationworld/ci_9980647> ] 

	"An artificial timetable based on political expediency would
have led to disaster and could still turn success into defeat," Mr.
McCain said. [New York Times, 7/19/08
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html> ]

	McCAIN: So the fact is that we have succeeded. We are winning.
They'll come home with honor. And it won't be just at a set timetable.
[CBS interview, 7/22/08
<http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/22/eveningnews/main4283813.shtml
?source=mostpop_story> ]

But in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer today, McCain seemed to
endorse the idea of a timetable. When asked if Maliki would "persist" in
requesting a 16-month withdrawal timetable from Iraq, McCain responded,
"He won't. ... I know him." McCain then praised Maliki's 16-month
timetable:

	BLITZER: So why do you think he said that 16 months is basically
a pretty good timetable? 

	McCAIN: He said it's a pretty good timetable based on conditions
on the ground. I think it's a pretty good timetable, as we should - or
horizons for withdrawal. But they have to be based on conditions on the
ground. 

Indeed, as McCain told former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney during
a presidential debate in January: "Timetables was the buzzword
<http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/30/GOPdebate.transcript/>  for
those that wanted to get out."

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/25/mccain-timeline/

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "big campaign" group.

To post to this group, send to [email-masked]

To unsubscribe, send email to [email-masked]

E-mail [email-masked] with questions or concerns
 
This is a list of individuals. It is not affiliated with any group or organization.
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---