"Maverick" Diplomat or Bush Parrot, You Decide

Bush Administration

John McCain

November 2001: Don Rumsfeld Links Saddam Hussein and
al-Qaeda.

Rumsfeld claimed there were
ties "between the terrorists in the Philippines
and the al-Qaeda and people in Iraq."

[ABC News,
"Nightline," 11/28/2001]

November 2001: John McCain Does Too. There has
"been significant involvement on the part of the Iraqis and Saddam
Hussein in the acts of terror that have been committed in the past."
[ABC News, "Nightline," 11/28/2001]

2002: Ken Adelman -
Victory in Iraq
will be a "cakewalk." "ADELMAN: I think it
would be a limited period of time of a few months. I think it would be easy
for four quick reasons. It was a cakewalk last time. We have
gotten so much stronger since that time. They have gotten so much weaker
since that time, and this time we are going to play for keeps and I think
when you look at those four factors and examine them, you come up with an answer
that it's something that absolutely needs to be done and needs to be done
right away."

[CNN, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, July 5, 2002]

2002: McCain - "success
will be fairly easy."

McCain: "I believe that we can win an overwhelming victory in a very
short period of time." [CNN Late Edition, 9/29/02]

McCain: "And I believe that the success will be fairly easy."

[CNN, Larry King Live, 9/24/02]

March 2003 --- Cheney: We'll Be Greeted as
Liberators. "Now, I think
things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the
Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators."

[Meet the Press, March 16,
2003]

March 2003: McCain: We'll be
Welcomed as Liberators. "There's no
doubt in my mind that once these people are gone that we will be welcomed as
liberators."

[MSNBC, Hardball, 3/24/03]

2005: Bush: Stay the course

2005: McCain: Stay the course

August 2007: Bush: If We Withdraw From Iraq,
Enemy Will Follow Us Home. In a
speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Bush declared: "If we were to
abandon the Iraqi people, the terrorists would be emboldened, and use their
victory to gain new recruits. Unlike in Vietnam, if we withdraw before
the job is done, this enemy will follow us home."

[Speech to Veterans of
Foreign Wars, 8/22/2007]

August 2007: McCain: Enemy Will Follow Us Home. "MCCAIN: I don't
know but they've lost sight of the fact that president's don't lose wars and
parties don't lose wars. Nations lose wars.

And if we lose this war, they're going to follow
us home. There's chaos, genocide in the region, and we'll pay a very heavy price.
I'd much rather lose the campaign than lose the war. And I'm going to be in
the debate in the middle of September when the Democrats try to give us a
date for surrender."

[THE O'REILLY FACTOR, Fox News Network, August 13,
2007]

May 2007 Tony Snow
Floats Iraq-South Korea parallel: "TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: You have the United States there
in what has been described as an over the horizon support role, so that if
you need the ability to react quickly to major challenges or crises, you can
be there. But -- but the Iraqis are conducting their -- the lion's share of
the business. As we have in South Korea, where for many years, there have been American
forces stationed there as a way of maintaining stability."

[THE SITUATION ROOM, CNN, May 30, 2007]

2008: McCain Cited South Korean Model as Defense for
Staying in Iraq
100 Years. When McCain was asked a
question about George Bush's belief that we will stay in Iraq for fifty years McCain
responded, "Make it a hundred. We've been in Japan for 60 years. We've been in
South Korea
50 years or so. That would be fine with me."

[McCain
Town hall in Derry, NH,
1/3/2008; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf7HYoh9YMM]

2008: Bush: Surge is Working, Al Qaeda on the Run. "Ladies and gentlemen, some may deny the surge
is working, but among the terrorists there is no doubt," Bush declared in
his 2008 State of the Union address. "Al Qaeda is on the run in Iraq,
and this enemy will be defeated."

[2008 State of the Union,
1/28/2008]

2008: McCain: Strategy Succeeding, Al
Qaeda on the Run. "We are
succeeding," in Iraq,
McCain told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. "I've said many times, Al
Qaida is on the run," he continued. "This [surge] strategy is
succeeding."

[Fox
News, "Fox News Sunday," 2/3/08]