PolyTicks

For the (Broken) Record

In an interview today, McCain repeated his mantra of "I know how to win wars." Let's explore the events that inform that unproven "knowledge".

Before anyone gets the wrong impression, I do not take McCain's internment lightly; his time in Hanoi was hellish. We know he was savagely beaten regularly for five and half years. So much so that he reached his personal "breaking point" making an anti-American confession, and actually tried to take his own life. His suicide attempt was stopped by guards. He required months of rehabilitation upon his return to the US but remains, effectively, physically crippled by his ordeal, unable to raise his arms above his head.

No one in their right mind can remain unmoved by his story, nor blame him for his reaction to his tormentors. I know I would have broken much sooner under such circumstances. That much is sacrosanct.

Having said that, when does experience become a liability? John McCain's body and spirit were broken by torture; his body bears the signs and scars. What about his mind? He claimed that he forgot all that 45 minutes after he was back. Is that reasonable, believable or even plausible?

Referring to his captors: "I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live." Understandable, but belies permanent effects on his psyche.

Besides the natural resentment, he has also expressed guilt and remorse for some of his own actions in that insane conflict: “I am a war criminal,” McCain said on “60 Minutes” in 1997. “I bombed innocent women and children.”

Are these the words of a man unaffected by his intense past? Is he likely to be someone who can put it all behind him and make level-headed and judicious decisions in times of conflict and war?

Back in America after his release, his marriage failing due, by his own admission, to his several affairs, he quit the navy when it became clear his poor annual physicals would preclude his ever making admiral. He refused the rank of rear admiral and left soldiery behind.

Just some of the details that never enter the dialogue around his war hero status.

Today when he was speaking with Wolf Blitzer, he assumed the attitude of able warrior and capable commander-in-chief when he claimed that IF he was elected president he would ensure the capture of Osama Bin Laden. Guaranteed it in fact. Said he knew how he could do it. When pressed for details he pulled the old I'd-love-to-tell-you-but-I'd-have-to-kill-you routine. Trust me, he said, I know.



Trust me, I'm a doctor.

That's some kind of campaign promise. He possesses the knowledge and capabilities to capture America's Most Wanted man, but he'll only do it if elected. Why not share that information with the current administration? What kind of leader holds the nation's security ransom for political ambition?

Oh yeah, all of them.

posted by Atomos @ 21:09