I have long wondered about how John McCain’s POW experience influenced his ability to control the rage that seems to be inside the man. McCain’s bouts with fellow senators and his use of aggressive language and behavior even inside the chambers of the US Senate are legendary in Washington.
It seems that my thoughts about John McCain still suffering from PTSD from the horrible conditions that he endured in a North Vietnamese POW camp so many years ago are shared by others.
The third presidential debate evoked comments from both the left and right about John McCain’s anger at Barack Obama. McCain’s anger was most visible during the segment about negative campaign ads, diverse pundits observed, yet McCain seemed to convey an undertone of aggression throughout the debate.
The following video captures McCain’s facial expressions throughout the debate. Watch the video and then decide if you think it is the best interests of the United States to have an all too often angry man as President. A man who appears to harbor severe unresolved anger management issues.
To say that John McCain is out of touch with what’s going on with the US economy and in the world is a huge understatement. The rigors of the Presidential campaign have not been kind to McCain. Not only has he failed to manage a decent efficient campaign he doesn’t seem to understand (or lies about) basic important issues. Issues like the war in Iraq for example.
The following article named “Remember Iraq?” is written by Gary Kamiya, a writer at large for Salon. McCain’s claim of victory in Iraq is just as delusional as President Bush’s claim of success.
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As analyst Peter Galbraith points out in an excellent piece in the New York Review of Books, the salient fact about Iraq is that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government is allied with Iran, wants to create a Shiite Islamic state and will never integrate the Sunni Awakening forces into the Iraqi Army, because it correctly sees them as threatening the current regime’s existence. Its rapprochement with the Kurds, the only group that supports the U.S., is fragile and could collapse at any time, with the fate of the disputed, oil-rich city of Kirkuk likely to be the trigger.
Galbraith sums up the situation thus: “George W. Bush has put the United States on the side of undemocratic Iraqis who are Iran’s allies. John McCain would continue the same approach. It is hard to understand how this can be called a success — or a path to victory.”
Most critically, the Maliki regime wants U.S. forces to leave Iraq — on the same 16-month timetable as the one Obama has proposed. The Iraqi people also want the U.S. out. The U.S. simply lacks the power to oppose this demand, and McCain’s bluster about staying in Iraq until “victory” is absurd in the face of it.
McCain’s talk of “victory” is not just logically false, it is morally obscene. Our unprovoked invasion destroyed Iraq. Up to a million Iraqis may have died. The infrastructure is dreadful, far worse than in Saddam’s time. Most of Iraq’s doctors have fled or been killed. Vast numbers of Iraqis have been forced into exile, and few have dared to return. The sectarian war our invasion let loose has ripped the country apart. Iraq remains one of the most dangerous and violence-torn countries in the world. (On Sunday, five bomb attacks in Baghdad killed at least 27 people.)
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For the full article go to Salon.Com
