McCain: ‘Pull the Trigger’ with Iran

Says U.S. backing away from fight with Iran

Video

Iran nuclear chief: ‘Please, don’t test Iran’ (NBC, April 15, 2010) — Ali Akbar Salehi, Ph.D., the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, addresses Iran’s nuclear rights and the country’s refusal to recognize U.N. nuclear regulations. Iran has produced five kilograms of 20 percent-enriched uranium in defiance of world powers who want Tehran to end nuclear work. NBC’s Ali Arouzi reports. (10:31).

The Associated Press and Reuters via MSNBC.com
April 14, 2009

WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain said the United States has been backing away from a brewing fight with Iran, while that country moves ever closer to having nuclear weapons.

McCain opened a Senate hearing Wednesday by saying that Iran will get the bomb unless the United States acts more boldly.

Speaking figuratively, the Arizona Republican said the U.S. keeps pointing a loaded gun at Iran but failing to “pull the trigger.”

During the hearing, a top diplomat said the United States is working as fast as it can to win new international sanctions on Iran. …

Iran could produce enough highly enriched uranium needed for a single nuclear bomb in as little as one year but would probably need three to five years to build a “usable” atomic weapon, top Pentagon officials said Wednesday.

Gen. James Cartwright said that, historically, it takes a country three to five years to make such a leap. Cartwright is the nation’s second highest-ranking military officer.

The timeline he cited Wednesday could be shortened if Iran pursued ways to deliver a weapon at the same time as it worked to build a bomb. …

Full story

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Israel Dragging US into Iran War? (March 21, 2010)

Obama Demands Access to Nuke Site (Sept. 26, 2009)

Bush Nixed Israeli Plea to Hit Iran (Jan. 11, 2009)

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By Aubrey Immelman
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As John McCain tries to close the gap with Barack Obama, his task is to convince the American people that he’s the right man to lead the nation at a time when America faces daunting economic challenges at home and urgent national security threats abroad. … Read more

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Barack Obama: A Question of Toughness

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Among the many leaders I have studied — presidential candidates as well as foreign adversaries as a consultant to the U.S. military — Barack Obama is something of a rarity. … Read more

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11/29/2010 Update

McCain: Time to Discuss North Korea ‘Regime Change’

By Douglass K. Daniel

November 28, 2010

WASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain said Sunday it was time to discuss “regime change” in North Korea, but the former Navy combat pilot didn’t say how he advocates changing the government in the repressive and secretive dictatorship.

McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was not suggesting military action against the North. He said the Chinese, the North’s closest ally, should rein in its neighbor, and he accused Beijing of failing to play a responsible role in either the Korean peninsula, where tensions are high because of a recent attack by the North, or the world stage.

“The key to this, obviously, is China,” McCain said on “State of the Union” on CNN. “And, unfortunately, China is not behaving as a responsible world power. It cannot be in China’s long-term interest to see a renewed conflict on the Korean peninsula.” …

McCain said the Chinese government’s call for emergency talks was a “fine first step,” but he questioned whether North Korea would stop its long history of confrontation without significant penalties.

“I think it’s time we talked about regime change in North Korea, and I do not mean military action, but I do believe that this is a very unstable regime,” McCain said.

“We can have a peaceful resolution to this issue,” he said. “But the North Korean regime is not one that’s going to abandon the nuclear power status.”

North Korea shelled the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong last Tuesday, killing four people. In March, the North was accused of sinking a South Korean warship and killing 46 sailors. Also raising tensions was the North’s recent revelation that it’s operating a new uranium-enrichment facility. …

Full story

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3/6/2012 Update

McCain Calls for U.S.-Led Airstrikes on Assad Forces in Syria

Video

McCain calls for U.S. airpower in Syria (NBC News, March 5, 2012) — Senator John McCain calls for an end to “the slaughter of innocent lives” in Syria through a U.S.-led international effort to protect the population while launching airstrikes on Assad forces. (02:33)

March 5, 2012

Arizona Sen. John McCain called for American-led airstrikes on President Bashar Assad’s forces in Syria. McCain says the goal of the U.S.-led airstrikes should be to establish and defend safe havens for delivering humanitarian and military aid in Syria.

“Providing military assistance to the Free Syrian Army and other opposition groups is necessary, but at this late hour, that alone will not be sufficient to stop the slaughter and save innocent lives,” McCain said. “The only realistic way to do so is with foreign air power.”

McCain called for the airstrikes in a Senate floor speech on Monday afternoon.

The speech emphasized that “the United States should lead an international effort to protect key population centers in Syria, especially in the north, through airstrikes on Assad’s forces.” …

The Arizona senator added that the mass atrocities that NATO intervened in Libya to prevent in  Benghazi are now a reality in Homs. “Indeed, Syria today is the scene of  some of the worst state-sponsored violence since Milosevic’s war crimes  in the Balkans, or Russia’s annihilation of the Chechen city of Grozny,” he said.

McCain commended the Obama administration’s efforts in orchestrating international sanctions against the Assad regime, but added that the policy of diplomacy is increasingly disconnected from the dire conditions on the ground in Syria. …

The conflict in Syria started last March with protests calling for the ouster of authoritarian President Assad in some of the country’s impoverished hinterlands.

The protests spread as the government waged a bloody crackdown on dissent, and many in the opposition have taken up arms to defend themselves and attack government troops. The U.N. says more than 7,500 people have been killed in the uprising.

McCain explained that the United States also has a clear national security interest in stopping the violence in Syria and forcing Assad to leave power. The current regime supported  Palestinian terrorist groups and funneled arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon, he said, adding that it also remains a  committed enemy of Israel. …

Since Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria, a concerted course of action similar to the one in Libya is not likely, but McCain said a joint military mandate is still feasible. He gave the example of NATO’s 1999 intervention in Kosovo, which took place without a formal authorization from the U.N. …

Full story

Read the full text of Sen. John McCain’s remarks

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5/19/2012 Update

Poll: 63 Percent in U.S. Back Military Action to Stop Iran from Getting Nuclear Weapons

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, center, visits the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility in Iran in this April 8, 2008 file photo. (Photo credit: Iran President’s Office via AP)

By Ian Johnston

May 18, 2012

Some 63 percent of Americans would be in favor of taking military action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, according to a new survey.

The Pew Research Center asked 26,210 people in 21 different countries to give their views on Iran’s alleged plans to get nuclear weapons, finding widespread opposition to the idea in the West and also in some countries in the Mideast.

More than nine in 10 people in the United States, U.K., France and Germany were against Iran getting nuclear weapons. Two percent of Americans said they were in favor.

About 61 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of Republicans backed military force to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons, with 31 percent of Democrats and 15 percent of Republicans saying this should be accepted if it happens.

The survey found that 76 percent of Jordanians, 66 percent of Egyptians and 62 percent of Lebanese people were also against the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran. …

“In most countries, there is majority support among opponents of a nuclear-armed Iran for international economic sanctions to try to stop Tehran’s weapons program,” the Pew report laying out the findings, “A Global ‘No’ to a Nuclear-Armed Iran,”  reads. …

Some 77 percent of Russians were against a nuclear-armed Iran, but of those only 46 percent backed tougher sanctions and just 24 percent approved of military action. In China, 54 percent were opposed, and of those 38 percent backed more sanctions and 30 percent would support the use of force. …

Some 50 percent of people in Pakistan were in favor of Iran acquiring nukes, compared to 11 per cent against, with a large number of people not expressing an opinion. …

Full story

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — April 15, 2009

Gregory Bull / AP file

Bloodstained U.S.-Mexico Border

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that drug cartel gun battles that leave dead bodies yards from American soil have turned Mexico’s bloodstained northern border into a major foreign policy challenge for President Barack Obama.