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Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), hoping to reignite his presidential campaign, harshly criticized Democrats Wednesday for their position on the Iraq war. “Before I left for Iraq, I watched with regret as the House of Representatives voted to deny our troops the support necessary to carry out their new mission,” McCain said in a speech at the Virginia Military Institute that was touted as a major policy address by his campaign. “Democratic leaders smiled and cheered as the last votes were counted. What were they celebrating? Defeat? Surrender? In Iraq, only our enemies were cheering.” McCain, who returned last week from a trip to Iraq, compared the political situation there to the one in Washington. He said there was an “enormous gulf” between politics as “a matter of life and death” for many in Baghdad and “the fanciful and self-interested debates about Iraq that substitute for statesmanship in Washington.” McCain accused Democrats of pursuing their strategy to withdraw from Iraq “heedless of the terrible consequences of our failure.” The senator is a strong supporter of Gen. David Petraeus and President Bush’s strategy to send additional combat troops to Iraq to get control of Baghdad. McCain’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has gotten off to a sluggish start, trailing in fundraising behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Many observers believe that the fate of the senator’s presidential aspirations is closely linked with success in Iraq over the next several months. “We, who are willing to support this new strategy, and give Gen. Petraeus the time and support he needs, have chosen a hard road,” McCain said. “But it is the right road.” The Iraq conflict is a historic moment, he added. “Let’s put aside for a moment the small politics of the day,” McCain stated. “The judgment of history should be the approval we seek, not the temporary favor of the latest public opinion poll.” |
