Democrats say McCain forgot Afghanistan

McCain has always failure in Iraq would lead to failure in Afghanistan. Once again McCain is being taken out of context. Iraqis have trained pakistanis and afghans on how to use IED's. McCain didn't forget anything. McCain has always said failure in Iraq would lead to failure in Afghanistan. Safe havens in iraq and failure to have a iraqi military step up would lead to failure in afghanistan.

Josh is strangely like McCain - a terrible writer and plugging the same lines as George W. Bush. If we responsibly end the war in Iraq, we can focus on the real terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. Afghanistan is the fight we should have been in for the last 6 years.

The fact the Democrats would be saying anything at all about McCain's foreign policy credentials and plans, giving their own ideas on the subject, is truly laughable. I agree with Josh.

The latest spin on Obama's Iraq stance. Ok, so now it's bring the war to a responsible end instead of just end it regardless of the facts on the ground or whether we win or lose. Oh yeah, and now, the reason we need to end the war is so we can concentrate on Afghanistan, not to please the radical fringe groups like moveon.org. Spin on.

John McCain is old. John McCain is too old to be our commander in chief. Its time for new ideas, a new way. Vote Obama 2008!

The Democrats are at it again; lying, lying, lying, just like Obama. McCain definitely did not forget about Afgan; he's the much better of the two presidential candidates to serve as Commander In Chief. He is experienced in foreign as well as domestic issues. Obama might be a great speaker, but watching his speech in Berlin reminded me of Hilter's speaking to the thousands and thousands of Germans, hypnotized by this insame madman.. While I do not believe Obama is a mad man but he is so very egotistical, arrogrant and self serving. He will say almost anything for votes.

Yesterday he told the Israeli crowd that "just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, WHICH IS MY COMMITTEE, a bill to call for divestment from Iran.....". ONLY ONE THING WRONG ABOUT THIS STATEMENT; OBAMA IS NOT A MEMBER OF THE SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE. H E
L I E D A G A I N........WANT THE AMERICAN JEWISH VOTE! Does he believe the American voters are so stupid that they will believe all his lies? I sincerely hope not.

My greatest fear is of failure in Afghanistan. It seems the enemy there at least knows who they want to kill. They are much better organized against us. I don't recall any foreign army being successful there. In Iraq they seem to just want to kill, and they don't much care who it is.
I voted for Bush twice, but wish I hadn't. I thought I was voting for a Christian with Christian values. It turns out he is a murderer. He seemed to have a vendetta against Iraq/Saddam from the get-go. I so hoped he knew something I didn't and the logic of his actions would come out in the wash. As it turned out, all I can think is his father instructed him to finish the job as he should have done in the first invasion of Iraq.

Josh, you miss the point. He referred to Iraq as the first major conflict since 9/11. As a veteran who fought in Afghanistan, I am offended that he forgot about the fighting we did there.

But McCain says we are SUCCESSFUL in Iraq - can't have it both ways sweetie. Also, McCain is not being taken out of context, he himself is out of context. His strong point, supposedly is the international front. This man doesn't even know what country borders Afghanistan!! Doesn't know the difference between Sunnie and Shei . His gaffes are nothing short of amazing and he contradicts himself constantly. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want him answering the phone at 3:00 in the morning!! The only thing worse than another four years of Bush is McCain for four years.

One of them will continue to play the game after the election, and appease those behind the curtain, but I know the truth....www.911truth.org.

i am disgusted "dear democrats" at how you manage your political warfare. if only you turned that energy to the good of the country. i do not believe you understand how badly you are taking this country down. i credit you with your knowledge and use of language. if only it were not for the negative.

Josh, McCain did not utter a word of what you posted, this is strictly YOUR OPINION. The point is the fact that McCain jumped from 911 to the Iraq war as the FIRST MAJOR CONFICT since 911, totally obliterating the war in Afghanistan, as if that has never existed. THAT, Josh, is the point the DNC is pointing out that McCain forgot. The DNC was and is correct in its response. As for old McAncient, he claims he is an expert on foreign affairs, yet he does not know the difference between Sunis and Shia (sp); he does NOT know that Pakistan does NOT border Iraq, he does NOT know Chechoslovakia went out of existance in 1996; he does not know that the Sunis started working with our military commanders in attacking alquaida and insurgents long BEFORE the "surge", in fact, according to McCain, the cooperation from the Suni was BECAUSE of the surge!! McCain is not an expert on foareign affairs and policy, heck if he thinks countries exist which do NOT exist, he knows little about foreign issues. Then again, IF, in fact, he is an expert and is FORGETTING these important issues or ISN'T AWARE of these issues, I would say he is a HIGH-RISK candidate for the Presidency!! We cannot afford to have a FORGETFUL president, nor can we afford an IGNORANT president leading our country. THESE AR THE FACTS!!

Oh, bunk, Josh. One fuzzy statement by McCain might be defended as you are trying to do. But for the past month he's been making one right after another. He may come up with decent ideas at Senate speeds, where he can work out a statement at leisure, but he clearly can't think straight at campaign speeds.

Josh, thats absolutely not true. Where are your sources for saying pakistanis and afghans were trained by iraqis? It's funny when you people constantly defend a person who is morally and directionally blind with heresay and uninformed comments. Go back to McDonalds and let educated people talk here.

Hahaha...Joke of the day --"Iraqis have trained pakistanis and afghans on how to use IED's"...No wonder u support McCain

Josh... Please site documents to support your position that Iraqis have trained Pakistanis and Afghans on how to use IEDs. Cause my lack of understanding has me believing that the insurgents came from outside of Iraq... Hence the word "Insurgent". But please, correct me if I'm remiss.

The problem in discussing any of this is we lose focus on any particular issue to try and focus on all issues before someone cuts your thoughts or rhetoric off. So, first things first... Explain how they have taught insurgents to fight a war they didn't even know they'd be fighting... and preparing for warfare (via IEDs) prior to a preemptive war they didn't know would be waged...

John McCain seems to forget quite a bit with his old age. He forgets about Iran too. John McCain consistently mangles Iran and Iraq.

And while mangling foreign policy, he readily admits that he knows nothing about the economy.

"I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics that I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.", John McCain

Not to lessen the sacrifice of our servicemen and women in Afghanistan, but a simple look at the number of troops that were sent to each region is very telling. Iraq was a larger offensive than Afghanistan, period.

Meanwhile, the dems tried to sell off the strategic oil reserve today. That is the kind of thinking we want running our national defense and foreign policy. That is the kind of thinking that OBAMA demonstrates. Let's create a temporary solution that will weaken our national security. We certainly don't want to support long term solutions like tapping the enormous oil and natural gas deposits available to our country. No drilling might mess up Ted Kennedy's view or effect less than .1% of Anwar.

Obama will not even credit our troops for the improvements in Iraq. Our economy is in the crapper and he spends millions in Europe playing president. It is great that he found tons of time to kiss Euro trash ass and work out at the Ritz. Too bad he didn't have more time to visit with the Americans that are stationed in European countries. He didn't even take the time to thank or visit with troops in Iraq or Afghanastan other than photo ops with Generals and his basketball.

Josh your thoughts have nothing to do with the fact that McCain thinks that the Iraq War was the 1st major conflict since 9-11. I think it is a slap in the face of the American Troops who fought the first actual conflict since 9-11 in Afghanistan.
I think McCain needs a handler. I am sure that either Lieberman or Graham would take that job full-time. I think this whole week is just a sad reflection on the desperation by McCain to try to be a part of the news.

McCain thinks Afghanistan and Iraq share a border. His recollection on the "Sunni Awakening" was bassackwards. He's not sure who is Sunni and who is Shiite. He scolded Obama for not going to Iraq in 2 years and when Obama made the trip, he bitterly complained about the media coverage Obama received. His chief economic adviser calls Amercians "Whiners" and that our economy is a "mental recession". I can't believe anyone wants this man to be President. Heaven help the world if the Right Wing steals another election. This current Republican Party is so shameless and corrupt they would pull all the stops to get McCain elected. This must not happen.

McCain sees Iraq insurgency as an assault on his manhood. Result, he can't think straight. Victory has already been achieved: Saddam is gone and there are no weapons of mass destruction. Trying to turn Iraq into a political clone of the US is ridiculous. It would take 200 years or more for Iraq to develop the appropriate politcal culture. Time to leave and let Iraq revert back to the Middle Ages - the way it was before we got there.

McCain never has gotten it. The surge failed and we went on to a different strategy. He thinks we're still in the surge. We blew Afghanistan because we went into Iraq and pretended it was more important. McCain still believes Iraq is more important. Perhaps McCain should go to this border between Iraq and Pakistan he thinks exists and explain how the surge which started in 2007 enabled us to start protecting sheiks in Anbar in 2006. Or, better, he should just accept that he is ignorant and out of touch.

It's funny how Republicans can never seem to answer a question with anything other than an attack on something or someone completely unrelated. The question is this: why is such a supposed 'expert' on foreign policy and the Middle East getting all of his facts wrong? Is it his advanced age? His lack of intelligence (Graduated 894 out of 899)? Hello??! Anyone on the Right with a rational answer?

When you take your eye off the ball to focus on a second ball you end up cross eyed. When you try to explain what you see it sounds like double talk not straight talk.

"in the first major conflict since 9/11"...meaning, i guess, that the first action since 9/11--in afganistan--was not considered to be, and still is not considered to be, major, despite being where the focus was and should have stayed?
which "context" are we referring to, josh?

Josh shows his obvious ignorance of the facts (as well as a lack of basic English):
The Iraqi have not been training Al-Qaeda, our so-called "allies", the Saudi Arabians are AND HAVE ALWAYS BEEN the driving force (and major fund-raisers) behind Al Qaeda, not Iraq. Before the invasion of Iraq, the only threat Iraq had been was to Kuwait and the Iraqi people themselves. Saudi Arabian nobility have funded Al Qaeda both before and after their take-over of Afghanistan.

If Obama made this continuous stream of mistakes in his comments on foreign policy it would be headline news. With McCain making them (just yesterday McCain forgot that Iran existed) they hardly get any press and have yet to make an impact in the polls. Proving that you can fool most of the people most of the time! I find it bewildering just because a senator has been around so long, and accumulated seniority points, so that he is on a lot of powerful Foreign Service committees, that he is automatically deemed an expert! It is the experts and long time politicians Cheney and Rumsfeld that got us into this morass, yet folks still think that more of the same will get us out? It also doesn’t stand to reason that someone young and new will automatically do any better. However, if you look at how even Bush is now realizing he has to embrace a time “horizon” ( aka if you look at the horizon you see what… well a “line”) in Iraq, he is now finally negotiating with Iran, and finally negotiating with North Korea, and that the important fight against terrorists in Afghanistan (which hello McCain, predated the Iraq invasion) has been neglected you will see that these are positions Obama has advocated for the last six years. Even McCain, forced by Bush’s turn around with the time-horizon and public statements of Iraqi leaders statements that they are in line with the thinking of Obama, is now recently mumbling that of course he expects that a significant portion of our troops will be out of Iraq by the end of his first term, if elected. So it is the ‘young’ Obama and his advisors who have been on the right track for the last six years and whose policy even Bush is embracing. We don’t need four more years of the wrong experience.

Where are the troops McCain wants to send to Afghanistan going to come from? The very ether? Perhaps the draft? Mayhaps he plans on going himself, as he is such a master of warfare.

Does anyone suppose that al Qaeda resurgence in Afghanistan is a result of US success in Iraq? That is, al Qaeda is stepping up its operations in Afghanistan because it is losing its effectiveness in Iraq.

McCain finished near the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy. It is quite apparent why he was near the bottom almost every time he speaks.

McCain has said no such thing, McCain in fact has barely said anything about Afghanistan which is the country that had Osama Bin Laden until the Bush Administration let him go, becuase his papi is friends with Bin Laden's papi

I don't believe for a minute that anyone in the DNC seriously thinks that McCain has forgotten Afghanistan. This partisan tit-for-tat bickering needs to end.

Oops! Can't remember the 9/11 timeline, Josh? It's OK - Songbird McCain can't either.

Too bad he didn't have Lieberman to tap him on the shoulder and whisper the correct answer in his ear. I don't see how anybody can keep talking about McCain's "strong foreign policy credentials" with a straight face while he keeps flubbing basic facts on what's starting to seem like a daily basis. There was the confusion between sunni and shia, the 'Iraq-Pakistan border,' his references to Czechoslovakia, the confusion over the timeline of the surge relating to the sunni awakening in al anbar, and now Iraq was apparently the first major conflict after 9/11? After GWB you'd think even Republicans would be more wary of someone who for whatever reason shows so little concern for getting the facts right.

In saying "Democrats say McCain forgot Afghanistan," you're making it sound like a political attack against McCain, when in all actuality it's not. Read his statement again. He did forget it. Just like he has forgotten countless other things of import.

Lets see......McCain has accused Obama of being for genocide, lied about the ONE SINGLE vote not to fund((because there was no provision for withdrawal from Iraq, he voted yes on the very same budget later),, McCain has consistantly voted against veterans benefits. Obama went to the middle east and europe after McCain WHINED like a baby, then he WHINED when it was a success. McCain has done absolutily nothing but smear and cry about Obama, while Obama ignors him. If Sydney McCain wants a vote, why doesn't he tell us what his plan is? He has no plan. HE HAS NO PLAN. So many great Republicans to choose from, and they chose the worst one. Just because McCain fought in the Civil War does not mean he can lead a country. BTW, 89% of America wants out of Iraq.

Lots of people have memory problems as they get older. Maybe the reason so many people identify with old man McCain is there's a lot of stuff about the past 8 years they would like to forget, or at the very least, not feel responsible for. John McCain offers that kind of person the opportunity to feel good about himself.

The sad truth you are seeing that at age 72 you will make mistakes when kept at the pace he has been going to run for the president. His mistakes become more often and larger the longer this election goes on. I cannot imagine what will happen in the white house. I now it is not politically correct to say but you can be too old to be president. Perhaps the founding fathers would have been better to not only put a minimum age but a maximum age for president. We often argue that FDR gave away too much at Yalta because of his age and illness. Do we really need another geriatric president

"Safe havens in iraq and failure to have a iraqi military step up would lead to failure in afghanistan."

Right. Because they could obviously never find safe haven in Iran.

You have looked at a map in the last quarter century, right?

McCain no longer has the aptitude to be President, he DID forget, just as he's been forgetting a lot of things lately. All the Republicans can do is sputter and smear at this point. Well, it won't work this time. McCain is an older and more easily misled George Bush. No thank you.

I just saw another interview with McCain to clarify his clarification of the surge and he seemed confused again. I think his whole "victory in Iraq" mantra is so over-the-top because it was never really a war in Iraq. Right now we are just peacekeepers until the Iraq army and police can take over.

"I am proud that I was right. I'm proud that we could defeat this evil. I was proud that we can bring our troops home with honor and prevent a wider war, an increased Iranian influence, and the risk of having to send our brave young Americans back." -- John McCain in Maine the other day, with former President George H. W. Bush at his side.

Does anyone -- other than John McCain apparently -- really believe that Iran's influence has not grown due to our war in Iraq? I could not help noticing that many news reports did not include McCain's full statement.

John McCain is a fraud. He is a foreign policy expert with no foreign policy expertise. He has no foresight, and hides behind being a POW and the military generals to cover up for his and George Bush's horrible decision to invade Iraq. There is NO CONTEXT that could make that acceptable. John McCain is a desperate liar.

Not presidential.

There wouldn't have been a safe haven in Iraq if we just focused on the existing ones in Afghanistan.

To #30:

No, "Smittie," no one supposes that, because that's not what's happening at all. al Qaeda was never a major force in Iraq. That was a lie perpetrated by the Bush administration and perpetuated by McThuselah

Correct, SJB, the Bush Administration was so desperate to tie Iraq to the War On Terror (or WOT), that they trumped up the influence of Al qaeda, whereas it was mainly other terrorists that caused most of the problems. Al Qaeda was barely a blip on the radar in Iraq until we arrived, by the way.