The former POW's Senate career has been marked by his outspoken determination never to repeat Vietnam mistakes. So why does he support the Iraq war?
April 1, 2008 WASHINGTON -- In a major national security speech delivered last week, John McCain invoked his experience in Vietnam to explain his support for a significant U.S. troop presence in Iraq for as long as it takes to prevent a wider catastrophe in the region. "I hold my position because I hate war, and I know very well and very personally how grievous its wages are," the former POW said in an address to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. "But I know, too, that we must pay those wages to avoid paying even higher ones later."
But the truth is that it's always about Vietnam for John McCain. He has invoked avoiding the mistakes of Vietnam with a sort of religious fervor in every important debate about dispatching U.S. troops since he first entered Congress in 1983. As he put it in an Aug. 18, 1999, speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, he studies "every prospective conflict for the shadow of Vietnam." In fact, a look at his record shows that he subjects every major foreign-policy decision to a Vietnam-derived test similar to the famed Powell doctrine, a test summed up by the McCain quote, "We're in it, now we must win it."
So entrenched are those lessons that McCain sounds, at times, like he wishes they could be applied retroactively. "We lost in Vietnam because we lost the will to fight, because we did not understand the nature of the war we were fighting, and because we limited the tools at our disposal," McCain said at a speech on Iraq at the Council on Foreign Relations on Nov. 5, 2003. And for that reason, it might be advisable to take him at his word when he says he'll stay in Iraq for 100 years. Whether Vietnam is the prism through which he judges national security decisions, or the rationale he uses to explain whatever position he decides to take -- and even if the lessons he says he's learned from Vietnam often seem contradictory -- he has applied his Vietnam test to Iraq and come up with the decision to stay.
Former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger was one of the first to get widespread credit for boiling down Vietnam-like lessons into a short, never-again recipe. But most often cited is Weinberger's former senior military assistant, Colin Powell, who in 1991 as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff articulated what has become known as the Powell Doctrine. Powell, who served in Vietnam, created a series of questions that need to be answered in the affirmative before the commitment of U.S. ground forces. Though Powell himself never codified the questions on any single written document, they are generally agreed to consist of the following:
Is there a vital national security interest at stake?
Is there a clear and attainable goal?
Have nonviolent efforts been exhausted?
Is there a viable exit strategy?
Do the American people support action?
Is there broad international support?
Once the decision has been made to take action, the Powell Doctrine says that the application of force should be overwhelming.
As a member of the House and Senate over the past quarter-century, McCain has used his own version of the Powell Doctrine to analyze national security issues and explain his decisions. For McCain, the lessons from Southeast Asia are clear. Prior to committing U.S. troops, carefully define the objective of an engagement, determine if the goal is achievable and is a vital national interest and weigh the potential cost. Should military action begin, commitment must be total, force should be overwhelming, and action must be seen through to its conclusion.
But as horrifying as his POW imprisonment in Vietnam must have been, McCain's Powell Doctrine is not based on his own experience there. As an A-4E Skyhawk pilot, McCain was shot down over Hanoi in October 1967 during his 23rd combat mission and spent the next half-decade imprisoned until his release in March 1973. He set about learning the lessons of the conflict in Southeast Asia soon after he got back to the United States. McCain spent a year at the National War College at Fort McNair in southwest Washington pursuing a "personal tutorial" on Vietnam, according to Robert Timberg's "John McCain: An American Odyssey." He read everything from David Halberstam's "The Best and the Brightest" to the Pentagon Papers.
Ever since he got to Congress in 1983, McCain's mission has been avoiding or, if necessary, winning another Vietnam. His votes often show him trying to avoid another military quagmire. "John McCain voted the way Vietnam Syndrome would have dictated," explained Charles Stevenson, author of "Congress at War," who worked on national security issues for two decades as a Democratic Senate staffer.
And regardless of his hawkish reputation on Iraq, McCain's efforts to learn from history have resulted in him publicly questioning national security policy advocated by presidents of both parties. He has cast at least one unexpectedly dovish vote, and has voted against the majority of his own party more than once. He has also used Vietnam to support diametrically opposed positions. "You can look at it as he is independent and examines each decision on its merits or you can argue that he is inconsistent," said John Isaacs, who closely follows national security issues in Congress as executive director of Council for a Livable World. "I actually give him credit for not being knee-jerk."
Randy Scheunemann, the McCain campaign's director of foreign policy, says any apparent inconsistency is because the candidate does "not approach use of force issues with a cookie cutter and rigid list of criteria. He evaluates them on a case-by-case basis. And he also makes his judgments according to events on the ground, which can change over time."
Scheunemann did confirm, however, that the candidate applies a Vietnam-derived test very like the Powell Doctrine to military decisions. "The right way to think about Vietnam is, think very carefully about getting in before you get in, about the goals and how do you plan to achieve those goals. If you get involved, prosecute it to victory."
Next page: McCain shocked his colleagues by voting against Reagan's effort to keep U.S. troops in Lebanon
April 1, 2008 WASHINGTON -- In a major national security speech delivered last week, John McCain invoked his experience in Vietnam to explain his support for a significant U.S. troop presence in Iraq for as long as it takes to prevent a wider catastrophe in the region. "I hold my position because I hate war, and I know very well and very personally how grievous its wages are," the former POW said in an address to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. "But I know, too, that we must pay those wages to avoid paying even higher ones later."
But the truth is that it's always about Vietnam for John McCain. He has invoked avoiding the mistakes of Vietnam with a sort of religious fervor in every important debate about dispatching U.S. troops since he first entered Congress in 1983. As he put it in an Aug. 18, 1999, speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, he studies "every prospective conflict for the shadow of Vietnam." In fact, a look at his record shows that he subjects every major foreign-policy decision to a Vietnam-derived test similar to the famed Powell doctrine, a test summed up by the McCain quote, "We're in it, now we must win it."
So entrenched are those lessons that McCain sounds, at times, like he wishes they could be applied retroactively. "We lost in Vietnam because we lost the will to fight, because we did not understand the nature of the war we were fighting, and because we limited the tools at our disposal," McCain said at a speech on Iraq at the Council on Foreign Relations on Nov. 5, 2003. And for that reason, it might be advisable to take him at his word when he says he'll stay in Iraq for 100 years. Whether Vietnam is the prism through which he judges national security decisions, or the rationale he uses to explain whatever position he decides to take -- and even if the lessons he says he's learned from Vietnam often seem contradictory -- he has applied his Vietnam test to Iraq and come up with the decision to stay.
Former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger was one of the first to get widespread credit for boiling down Vietnam-like lessons into a short, never-again recipe. But most often cited is Weinberger's former senior military assistant, Colin Powell, who in 1991 as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff articulated what has become known as the Powell Doctrine. Powell, who served in Vietnam, created a series of questions that need to be answered in the affirmative before the commitment of U.S. ground forces. Though Powell himself never codified the questions on any single written document, they are generally agreed to consist of the following:
Is there a vital national security interest at stake?
Is there a clear and attainable goal?
Have nonviolent efforts been exhausted?
Is there a viable exit strategy?
Do the American people support action?
Is there broad international support?
Once the decision has been made to take action, the Powell Doctrine says that the application of force should be overwhelming.
As a member of the House and Senate over the past quarter-century, McCain has used his own version of the Powell Doctrine to analyze national security issues and explain his decisions. For McCain, the lessons from Southeast Asia are clear. Prior to committing U.S. troops, carefully define the objective of an engagement, determine if the goal is achievable and is a vital national interest and weigh the potential cost. Should military action begin, commitment must be total, force should be overwhelming, and action must be seen through to its conclusion.
But as horrifying as his POW imprisonment in Vietnam must have been, McCain's Powell Doctrine is not based on his own experience there. As an A-4E Skyhawk pilot, McCain was shot down over Hanoi in October 1967 during his 23rd combat mission and spent the next half-decade imprisoned until his release in March 1973. He set about learning the lessons of the conflict in Southeast Asia soon after he got back to the United States. McCain spent a year at the National War College at Fort McNair in southwest Washington pursuing a "personal tutorial" on Vietnam, according to Robert Timberg's "John McCain: An American Odyssey." He read everything from David Halberstam's "The Best and the Brightest" to the Pentagon Papers.
Ever since he got to Congress in 1983, McCain's mission has been avoiding or, if necessary, winning another Vietnam. His votes often show him trying to avoid another military quagmire. "John McCain voted the way Vietnam Syndrome would have dictated," explained Charles Stevenson, author of "Congress at War," who worked on national security issues for two decades as a Democratic Senate staffer.
And regardless of his hawkish reputation on Iraq, McCain's efforts to learn from history have resulted in him publicly questioning national security policy advocated by presidents of both parties. He has cast at least one unexpectedly dovish vote, and has voted against the majority of his own party more than once. He has also used Vietnam to support diametrically opposed positions. "You can look at it as he is independent and examines each decision on its merits or you can argue that he is inconsistent," said John Isaacs, who closely follows national security issues in Congress as executive director of Council for a Livable World. "I actually give him credit for not being knee-jerk."
Randy Scheunemann, the McCain campaign's director of foreign policy, says any apparent inconsistency is because the candidate does "not approach use of force issues with a cookie cutter and rigid list of criteria. He evaluates them on a case-by-case basis. And he also makes his judgments according to events on the ground, which can change over time."
Scheunemann did confirm, however, that the candidate applies a Vietnam-derived test very like the Powell Doctrine to military decisions. "The right way to think about Vietnam is, think very carefully about getting in before you get in, about the goals and how do you plan to achieve those goals. If you get involved, prosecute it to victory."
Next page: McCain shocked his colleagues by voting against Reagan's effort to keep U.S. troops in Lebanon
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