08-08-2011, 03:08 PM
When is enough enough?
Last night I watched the replay of Meet the Press. I watched only part of it, because otherwise I would have lost my ever loving mind.
Mr. Gregory host of Meet The Press interviewed Sen. John McCain via satellite. The subject WAR and our Economy. What else is there?
Video of Interview:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/4...0#44050260
Transcript of interview:
MR. GREGORY: After 2012, which includes the question of whether tax increases of any stripe can and should be part of the deal that this super committee works on?
SEN. McCAIN: Well, there's a fundamental belief that many of us have is why should you raise taxes and take money from people and give it to the government, which has grown enormously in size or debt has grown from one--$10 trillion to $14 trillion. What's the point? The point is that we need to take on the entitlements and we need to reform the tax code so it's flatter and fairer. Why is it that people are sitting on all this money? It's because they don't know what the next regulation that's coming down on them. They don't know what their future is so that they can invest, and that's why a lot of them are going to overseas and where they're making most of their profits. So, look, this select committee, I believe, can really do what we haven't had the courage to do in the past. And the difference is between it and any other, as you know, is that it is an up or down vote. And I think that a lot of us would have the courage to vote for what the most experienced people in Congress come up with. MOST Experienced? The ones with cobwebs rolling off their shoulders? That live in the mindset of 1950's?
MR. GREGORY: Senator, in--with a few minutes left, I want to turn to Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense Panetta, in his statement, indicated that the U.S. would stay the course to fulfill the mission that these brave soldiers died for. My question to you is, do you have fears that, indeed, your fears of withdrawal of surge forces that are on a path to come out by the end of 2012, leaving still tens of thousands of U.S. troops there, is too aggressive, too fast to accomplish that mission that Panetta says we're going to stay on?
SEN. McCAIN: Well, absolutely. The president's decision to withdraw at--on the schedule that he has outlined, there was no military recommendation. All our military leaders have said that it increases the risk. Why would we want to increase the risk to the lives of our young men and women who are serving? The second problem, David, and it's serious, is this continued sanctuary that is now in Pakistan with the Haqqani network, the ISI cooperation with other organizations, including the Taliban. And we have to have a realization that the present sanctuary situation in Pakistan cannot continue, otherwise it places enormous burdens on our ability to succeed. And I believe we've made significant successes. Our prayers and thoughts go out to the families of those brave, brave, brave elite of our elite that have sacrificed. But at the same time, we're going to have to address this sanctuary situation, and we're going to have to address the problem that the president has created, and that is that out there there's a perception, Afghanistan and other parts of the--of that part of the world, that America is withdrawing. That can't be good.
((No more profits from Stocks for McCain and his Cohorts?))
MR. GREGORY: But the reality is, Senator, we've been at this over a decade now. This sanctuary problem has been with us the entire time. You know there are going to be people who are watching this who say, "Well, then why are we still there? We don't seem to have Afghan soldiers who are a partner enough to take care of the problem, and oh, by the way, we went to Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban--rather, al-Qaeda, which is not really active there. We're fighting against an insurgency unlikely to prevail."
SEN. McCAIN: Well, first of all, on the 10 year thing, the fact is that we have only had a surge for a couple years now, since the president announced it, as you know, at West Point. So we've had a very short time. There's no doubt that we have had significant success, particularly in the southern part of Afghanistan. The reason why I worry a lot is I'm not sure we have sufficient number of troops for another fighting season so we can gain control in the eastern side of the country. We all know that the Taliban cooperated with and assisted al-Qaeda initially, which is the reason why we went to Afghanistan as a result of 9/11. So there's no doubt in my mind that we would have al-Qaeda presence and influence in Afghanistan and even a return to a base for attacks on the United States of America. And also, there's a fundamental question, do you want to condemn the Afghan people to the rule of the, of the Taliban? I think we should try to avoid that as well.
MR. GREGORY: All right. Senator McCain, as always, thank you for your views.
SEN. McCAIN: Thanks for having me on.
Last night I watched the replay of Meet the Press. I watched only part of it, because otherwise I would have lost my ever loving mind.
Mr. Gregory host of Meet The Press interviewed Sen. John McCain via satellite. The subject WAR and our Economy. What else is there?
Video of Interview:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/4...0#44050260
Transcript of interview:
MR. GREGORY: After 2012, which includes the question of whether tax increases of any stripe can and should be part of the deal that this super committee works on?
SEN. McCAIN: Well, there's a fundamental belief that many of us have is why should you raise taxes and take money from people and give it to the government, which has grown enormously in size or debt has grown from one--$10 trillion to $14 trillion. What's the point? The point is that we need to take on the entitlements and we need to reform the tax code so it's flatter and fairer. Why is it that people are sitting on all this money? It's because they don't know what the next regulation that's coming down on them. They don't know what their future is so that they can invest, and that's why a lot of them are going to overseas and where they're making most of their profits. So, look, this select committee, I believe, can really do what we haven't had the courage to do in the past. And the difference is between it and any other, as you know, is that it is an up or down vote. And I think that a lot of us would have the courage to vote for what the most experienced people in Congress come up with. MOST Experienced? The ones with cobwebs rolling off their shoulders? That live in the mindset of 1950's?
MR. GREGORY: Senator, in--with a few minutes left, I want to turn to Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense Panetta, in his statement, indicated that the U.S. would stay the course to fulfill the mission that these brave soldiers died for. My question to you is, do you have fears that, indeed, your fears of withdrawal of surge forces that are on a path to come out by the end of 2012, leaving still tens of thousands of U.S. troops there, is too aggressive, too fast to accomplish that mission that Panetta says we're going to stay on?
SEN. McCAIN: Well, absolutely. The president's decision to withdraw at--on the schedule that he has outlined, there was no military recommendation. All our military leaders have said that it increases the risk. Why would we want to increase the risk to the lives of our young men and women who are serving? The second problem, David, and it's serious, is this continued sanctuary that is now in Pakistan with the Haqqani network, the ISI cooperation with other organizations, including the Taliban. And we have to have a realization that the present sanctuary situation in Pakistan cannot continue, otherwise it places enormous burdens on our ability to succeed. And I believe we've made significant successes. Our prayers and thoughts go out to the families of those brave, brave, brave elite of our elite that have sacrificed. But at the same time, we're going to have to address this sanctuary situation, and we're going to have to address the problem that the president has created, and that is that out there there's a perception, Afghanistan and other parts of the--of that part of the world, that America is withdrawing. That can't be good.
((No more profits from Stocks for McCain and his Cohorts?))
MR. GREGORY: But the reality is, Senator, we've been at this over a decade now. This sanctuary problem has been with us the entire time. You know there are going to be people who are watching this who say, "Well, then why are we still there? We don't seem to have Afghan soldiers who are a partner enough to take care of the problem, and oh, by the way, we went to Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban--rather, al-Qaeda, which is not really active there. We're fighting against an insurgency unlikely to prevail."
SEN. McCAIN: Well, first of all, on the 10 year thing, the fact is that we have only had a surge for a couple years now, since the president announced it, as you know, at West Point. So we've had a very short time. There's no doubt that we have had significant success, particularly in the southern part of Afghanistan. The reason why I worry a lot is I'm not sure we have sufficient number of troops for another fighting season so we can gain control in the eastern side of the country. We all know that the Taliban cooperated with and assisted al-Qaeda initially, which is the reason why we went to Afghanistan as a result of 9/11. So there's no doubt in my mind that we would have al-Qaeda presence and influence in Afghanistan and even a return to a base for attacks on the United States of America. And also, there's a fundamental question, do you want to condemn the Afghan people to the rule of the, of the Taliban? I think we should try to avoid that as well.
MR. GREGORY: All right. Senator McCain, as always, thank you for your views.
SEN. McCAIN: Thanks for having me on.