Pat Dollard

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Let us not forget that Hussein was deeply opposed to the Surge, and wanted us out then and there. No matter what the generals said. What would the Middle East look like now had we relied on his judgement?

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The Swamp:

Speaking to the AIPAC policy conference in Washington this morning, Sen. John McCain mocked his presidential rival for thinking he could solve the threat Iran proposes by holding high-level talks, and he proposed a range of sanctions against Iran as well as the launch of a worldwide divestment campaign similar to the one used to wipe out apartheid in South Africa.

McCain pledged his support to increasing military aid to Israel, which is scheduled to begin in October, and helping Israel maintain its military edge.

“Foremost in all our minds is the threat posed by the regime in Tehran,” McCain said. “The Iranian president has called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” and suggested that Israel’s Jewish population should return to Europe. He calls Israel a “stinking corpse” that is “on its way to annihilation.” But the Iranian leadership does far more than issue vile insults. It acts in ways directly detrimental to the security of Israel and the United States.”

McCain described Iran as a sponsor of both terrorist groups Hamas and Hazbollah, and said it has trained, financed and equipped extremists in Iraq who have killed American soldiers. “It remains the world’s chief sponsor of terrorism and threatens to destabilize the entire Middle East, from Basra to Beirut,” he said.

McCain criticized Sen. Barack Obama for his willingness to hold talks with the leader of Iran, noting that it’s been tried before without success.

“The Iranians have spent years working toward a nuclear program. And the idea that they now seek nuclear weapons because we refuse to engage in presidential-level talks is a serious misreading of history,” McCain said, calling its nuclear program “an unacceptable risk.”

In a statement from the Obama campaign,a spokesman said McCain “stubbornly insists on continuing a dangerous and failed foreign policy that has clearly made the United States and Israel less secure.”
But McCain said previous administrations have already tried Obama’s approach without success.

“In reality, a series of administrations have tried to talk to Iran, and none tried harder than the Clinton administration. In 1998, the secretary of state made a public overture to the Iranians, laid out a roadmap to normal relations, and for two years tried to engage,” he said. “The Clinton administration even lifted some sanctions, and Secretary Albright apologized for American actions going back to the 1950s. But even under President Khatami — a man by all accounts less radical than the current president — Iran rejected these overtures.”

McCain called Obama’s openness toward meeting with the Iranian leadership “as if it were some sudden inspiration, a bold new idea that somehow nobody has ever thought of before.”

McCain said he expected that all Obama would get out of it is “an earful of anti-Semitic rants.”

The Arizona senator said that what would be more likely to work is pressure that would peacefully change Iran’s path.

“Essential to this strategy is the UN Security Council, which should impose progressively tougher political and economic sanctions. Should the Security Council continue to delay in this responsibility, the United States must lead like-minded countries in imposing multilateral sanctions outside the UN framework,” he said, calling for sanctions on Iran’s ability to import refined petroleum products.

“As a further measure to contain and deter Iran, the United States should impose financial sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran, which aids in Iran’s terrorism and weapons proliferation,” he said. “We must apply the full force of law to prevent business dealings with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.”

Finally, McCain called for privatizing sanctions against Iran with a worldwide divestment campaign.

“As more people, businesses, pension funds, and financial institutions across the world divest from companies doing business with Iran, the radical elite who run that country will become even more unpopular than they are already,” he said. “Years ago, the moral clarity and conviction of civilized nations came together in a divestment campaign against South Africa, helping to rid that nation of the evil of apartheid. In our day, we must use that same power and moral conviction against the regime in Iran, and help to safeguard the people of Israel and the peace of the world.”

Obama, in fact, introduced the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act, which would authorized state and local governments to direct divestiture from companies with investments of $20 million or more in Iran’s energy sector. His chief co-sponsor was Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who has endorsed McCain for president.

Here is the Obama campaign response:

“John McCain stubbornly insists on continuing a dangerous and failed foreign policy that has clearly made the United States and Israel less secure. Here are the results of the policies that John McCain has supported, and would continue. During the Bush Administration, Iran has dramatically expanded its nuclear program, going from zero centrifuges to more than 3000 centrifuges. During the Bush Administration, Iran has expanded its influence throughout a vitally important region, plying Hamas and Hezbollah with money and arms. During the Bush Administration, Hamas took over Gaza. Most importantly, the war in Iraq that John McCain supported and promises to continue indefinitely has done more to dramatically strengthen and embolden Iran than anything in a generation.

“Confronted with that reality, John McCain promises four more years of the same policies that have strengthened Iran, making the United States and Israel less safe. He promises to continue a war in Iraq that has emboldened Iran and strengthened its hand. He promises sanctions that the Bush Administration has been unable to persuade the Security Council to deliver. He promises a divestment campaign, even though he refused to sign on to Barack Obama’s bipartisan divestment bill, refused to get his colleagues to lift an anonymous hold on the bill, and willfully ignores the fact that trade and investment between Iran and Iraq continue to expand. He stubbornly refuses to engage in aggressive diplomacy, ruling it out unconditionally as a tool of American power.

“Instead of recognizing reality, John McCain continues to run on a platform of doubling down on George Bush’s failed policies, while carrying on his divisive brand of politics. The United States and Israel cannot afford four more years of an unwillingness to change course,” said Obama campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan.