Think about it, the next time any of you Hillary supporters say that McCain is a "hero", because quite frankly, that's where I stop reading your diary and stop listening to you, and this point after listening to your repub talking points, you and I may even part company! McCain at one time may have served this nation well in Vietnam some 40 years ago, but today--and this what counts the most--he is no hero.
Senator McCain now says he sees no end to the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq.
McCain: "Make it a hundred" years in Iraq and "that would be fine with me." [Derry, New Hampshire Town Hall meeting, 1/3/08]
McCain on how long troops may remain in Iraq: "A thousand years. A million years. Ten million years. It depends on the arrangement we have with the Iraqi government." [Associated Press, 1/04/08]
I--"Real heroes" DON'T send our young men and women off to fight and die in a wanton war of occupation/aggression against a sovereign nation that did not attack us and was at no time any imminent threat to us!
McCain used many of the same arguments as Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Cheney and President Bush when advocating going to war with Iraq.
McCain co-sponsored the Use of Force Authorization[2002 AUMF] that gave President George W. Bush the green light – and a blank check - for going to war with Iraq. [SJ Res 46, 10/3/02]
McCain argued Saddam was "a threat of the first order."
Senator McCain said that a policy of containing Iraq to blunt its weapons of mass destruction program is "unsustainable, ineffective, unworkable and dangerous."
McCain: "I believe Iraq is a threat of the first order, and only a change of regime will make Iraq a state that does not threaten us and others, and where liberated people assume the rights and responsibilities of freedom." [Speech to the Center for Strategic & International Studies, 2/13/03]
McCain echoed Bush and Cheney’s rationale for going to war. McCain: "It’s going to send the message throughout the Middle East that democracy can take hold in the Middle East." [Fox, Hannity & Colmes, 2/21/03]
McCain echoed Bush and Cheney’s talking points that the U.S. would only be in Iraq for a short time. McCain: "It’s clear that the end is very much in sight. ... It won’t be long...it’ll be a fairly short period of time." [ABC, 4/9/03]
McCain said winning the war would be "easy." "I know that as successful as I believe we will be, and I believe that the success will be fairly easy, we will still lose some American young men or women." [CNN, 9/24/02]
II--"Real heroes" don't do it based on over 935 well-documented lies!
III--"Real heroes" don't send them to battle without the proper body armor, equipment and training!
IV--"Real heroes" don't send our troops on back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back tours with no break or reasonal down-time in between!
Senator McCain opposed efforts to end the overextension of the military that is having a devastating impact on our troops.
McCain voted against requiring mandatory minimum downtime between tours of duty for troops serving in Iraq. [S. Amdt.. 2909 to S Amdt. 2011 to HR 1585, Vote 341, 9/19/07; S Amdt. 2012 to S Amdt. 2011 to HR 1585, Vote #241, 7/11/07]
V--"Real heroes" give our returning veterans the proper medical care and medical benefits for the disabilities--seen and unseen--they received while fighting your aggressive war for a false mission!
McCain was one of only 13 senators to vote against adding $430 million for inpatient and outpatient care for veterans. [S Amdt. 3642 to HR 4939, Vote 98, 4/26/06]
VI--And "real heroes" don't lie about the so-called progress of that war to us who are back at home, and build false hopes so the war profiteers and military-industrialists, and big Oil can continue to get rich off our troops' shed blood!
Senator McCain praised Donald Rumsfeld as late as May 12, 2004, after the Abu Ghraib scandal.
Asked if Donald Rumsfeld can continue to be an effective secretary of defense, McCain: "Yes, today I do and I believe he's done a fine job. He's an honorable man." [Hannity and Colmes, 5/12/04
Senator McCain repeatedly supported President Bush on the Iraq War – voting with him in the Senate, defending his actions and publicly praising his leadership.
McCain maintains the war was a good idea.
At the 2004 Republican National Convention, McCain, focusing on the war in Iraq, said that while weapons of mass destruction were not found, Saddam once had them and "he would have acquired them again."
McCain said the mission in Iraq "gave hope to people long oppressed" and it was "necessary, achievable and noble."
McCain: "For his determination to undertake it, and for his unflagging resolve to see it through to a just end, President Bush deserves not only our support, but our admiration." [Plain Dealer, 8/31/04]
Senator McCain: "The war, the invasion was not a mistake. [Meet the Press, 1/6/08]
Asked if the war was a good idea worth the price in blood and treasure, McCain: "It was worth getting rid of Saddam Hussein. He had used weapons of mass destruction, and it's clear that he was hell-bent on acquiring them." [Republican Debate, 1/24/08]
McCain defended Bush’s rationale for war. Asked if he thought the president exaggerated the case for war, McCain said, "I don’t think so." [Fox News, 7/31/03]
McCain has been President Bush’s most ardent Senate supporter on Iraq. According to Michael Shank of the Foreign Policy in Focus think tank, McCain was at times Bush’s "most solid support in the Senate" on Iraq. [Foreign Policy in Focus, 1/15/08]
McCain voted against holding Bush accountable for his actions in the war. McCain opposed the creation of an independent commission to investigate the development and use of intelligence leading up to the war in Iraq. [S. Amdt. 1275 to H.R. 2658, Vote # 284, 7/16/03]
McCain praised Bush’s leadership on the war. McCain: "I think the president has led with great clarity and I think he’s done a great job leading the country..." [MSNBC, Hardball, 4/23/03]
Senator McCain has constantly moved the goal posts of progress for the war – repeatedly saying it would be over soon.
January 2003: "But the point is that, one, we will win this conflict. We will win it easily." [MSNBC, 1/22/03]
March 2003: "I believe that this conflict is still going to be relatively short." [NBC, Meet the Press, 3/30/03]
June 2004: "The terrorists know that this is a very critical time." [CNN, 6/23/04]
December 2005: "Overall, I think a year from now, we will have a fair amount of progress [in Iraq] if we stay the course." [The Hill, 12/8/05]
November 2006: "We’re either going to lose this thing or win this thing within the next several months."[NBC, Meet the Press, 11/12/06]
After looking at McCain's current warmongering record, I don't want to hear about McCain's heroism in Vietnam. I want to believe in someone who had the good sense to vote against the Iraq war in the first place. I want to support someone like Obama who had the wisdom and the good horse sense to smell disaster when he smelled it in 2002, and has opposed it from its onset and still does today!
Senator McCain has consistently opposed any plan to withdraw troops from Iraq.
Senator McCain repeatedly voted against a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq. [S. Amdt. 3876 to S.Amdt. 3874 to H.R. 2764, Vote #438, 12/18/07; S.Amdt.. 3875 to S.Amdt.. 3874 to H.R. 2764, Vote # 437, 12/18/07; S.Amdt.3164 to H.R. 3222, Vote # 362, 10/3/07; S.Amdt. 2898 to S.Amdt. 2011 to H.R. 1585, Vote #346, 9/21/07; S.Amdt. 2924 to S.Amdt.. 2011 to H.R.1585, Vote #345, 9/21/07; S.Amdt.2 087 to S.Amdt. 2011 to H.R. 1585, Vote #252, 7/18/07; S.Amdt. 643 to H.R. 1591, Vote #116, 3/27/07; S.Amdt. 4320 to S. 2766, Vote #182, 6/22/06; S.Amdt. 4442 to S. 2766, Vote #181, 6/22/06; S.Amdt.. 2519 to S.1042, Vote # 322, 11/15/05]
To me, that is the definition of a hero; someone like Obama who OPPOSED war from the beginning; someone who realizes and can admit America made a mistake by engaging in this war(which McCain refuses to do), and that is is the man that could've prevented the loss of over 4000 of our brightest and bravest Americans in a war that should've never occurred in the FIRST place--that is the true hero and the true definition of heroism!
The conquering and subjugation of Iraq's oil fields was worth neither our FIRST fatality:
Nor our 4,000th fatality:
Not to mention the over one million(conservative estimates by world organizations) Iraqis that died by our hands:
A real hero wouldn't propagate the damnable myth or condone the outright lie that waterboarding wasn't torture, especially after they were tortured for 5 & 1/2 years themselves, and knowing that the Japanese war ciminals who waterboarded were convicted of WAR CRIMES, adjudicated, and executed for doing it to our POWS in WW2!
And they damn sure wouldn't embrace the ONE who allows it--or makes it part and parcel of what America is perceived to stand for by the rest of the world!
Nor would a real hero celebrate his birthday while the victims of Katrina were wallering around hungry and homeless in the streets! 
Real heroes wouldn't allow a war criminal to warrantlessly wiretap the American people!
