100 Years

By Joe Klein | @JoeKleinTIME | May 1, 2008 | +

The McCain campaign has gone rabid-vehement over what they consider distortions of their candidate’s desire to remain in Iraq for 100 years. Once again, let’s make the distinction: McCain hasn’t said he’s in favor of a 100 year war…just a 100 year occupation, which he posits, ridiculously, could be as peaceful as the U.S. military presence in Korea or Germany. Moira Whelan has laid out the details of the controversy very clearly here.

My view is that this is a completely legitimate issue: McCain wants to use Iraq as a long-term U.S. military platform in the region. Both Obama and Clinton think that’s foolish–a U.S. military presence in Iraq would be a constant irritant–and so do I. My guess is the American people will agree with the Democrats on this one, which is, obviously, why the McCain campaign is trying to deligitimize it.

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