McCain on staking his '08 bid on Iraq, the surge, bloggers, and Al-Sadr

This afternoon I had the opportunity to join in a blogger conference call with John McCain. The topic was the War in Iraq.

He was quick to point out the wonders of the blogosphere and emphasized a McCain presidency would keep the public better informed on the War (providing it is still going on). A McCain presidency would hold conference calls with conservative and liberal bloggers every 2 weeks. He wasn’t sure how this would work, but was confident there would be a way to rotate who asks questions and to get more people involved. As President, he would also hold press conferences on Iraq every two weeks as well. He recommended that they be broadcasted on C-SPAN, and would use a map to pin point what is going on where.

McCain also (and I agree) claimed that since the main stream media is hesitant to run any success stories on Iraq, it is up to bloggers to get the truth out.

Here are some highlights of the conference call with the bloggers questions and John McCain’s answers.

Q: On the Democrats’ plan for withdraw:

McCain: "Of those who favor a withdraw or timetable, [they] do not tell us how they will handle the situation when we leave. I believe chaos will ensure and other nations will enter the region and Al-Qaeda will become even more present in Iraq……[The] Senate did unanimously appoint General Petraeus and we should give him the time [to implement his strategy]”


Q: Caller was concerned of the politics of the war. How do we convince the public that we can win this thing?

McCain: “Town hall meetings, letters to the editor….Bloggers are important. They pay more attention than anybody. I have to give speeches on the Senate…..If I was the President, I would be going once every two weeks on C-SPAN to give an update on the war. Be more specific.”

Q: On Al-Sadr telling all Iraqis to attack American troops

McCain: “Heard several times that he was telling his forces to attack U.S. It hasn’t happened…. Interesting is the demonstrations that took place yesterday in Naraj. They were peaceful and no U.S. military there. Yes, the demonstration was for us leaving but it was peaceful and the Iraqi police monitored it. They were taking part in the democratic process.”

“Al-Sadr is in a bit of a tenuous situation. Most people are tired of his constant fighting and executions. One of the key elements that gives us hope are the dramatic reduction in number of bodies that are on the streets on Baghdad. Went from 100 to 30 . Still terrible and completely unacceptable but a dramatic change. ….Al-Sadr will not order a dramatic attack against us because if he loses, he is finished.”

Q: On the pundits and Washington Post claiming that McCain is staking his GOP bid on Iraq

McCain: “I have held this position for 4 years and I can not let anything to do with my political career effect my judgment on Iraq. Not only do I not know but I do not care on what affect it is has on my political ambitions or aspirations. For me to think otherwise, it would be a great great betrayal of the young men and women serving.”

Q: How and when do you determine success or failure in Iraq of the new strategy?

McCain: “Militarily, it has a lot of nuances. But we will know fairly soon whether the Maliki government will take the necessary actions that are vital to making the process succeed. One is the oil revenue. Two, is the de-bathification. Three, is declaring the provinces able to hold elections. [The] Sunni boycotted the last election which resulted in the Shiite being elected in the Anbar province” Militarily it will be a tough road but there are early signs that are encouraging."
“I’ve talked to General Petraeus on several occasions and I’m convinced that he is a man of honor and if he is convinced that the strategy is not succeeding, he will tell the American President and he will tell the American people.”