HOUSTON — Republican presidential hopeful John McCain said his remark that American troops could stay in Iraq for 100 years has been distorted, yet he still suggests a lengthy U.S. presence comparable to that in Korea and other countries.
“Of course, that comment of mine was distorted. Life isn’t fair, as Jack Kennedy said,” McCain told a town- hall meeting at Rice University. “I was talking about American presence after the war.”
Responding to a student who had criticized his 100-year remark, McCain added, “No American argues against our military presence in Korea or Japan or Germany or Kuwait or other places, or Turkey, because America is not receiving casualties.”
“I think, generally speaking, we have a more secure world thanks to American presence, particularly in Asia, by the way, as we see the rising influence of China,” McCain said. “But the key to it is American casualties, America’s most precious asset, and that is American blood.”
The student had referred to McCain’s response at a New Hampshire town-hall meeting in January when he was asked about a comment President Bush had made about U.S. troops remaining in Iraq for 50 years.
“Maybe 100,” McCain answered. “As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, it’s fine with me, and I hope it would be fine with you, if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al-Qaeda is training, recruiting, equipping and motivating people every single day.”
McCain insisted the United States “will win the war in Iraq and win it fairly soon,” allowing U.S. troops to withdraw to military bases.
McCain has said he expects Iraq war policy to be an issue in the general election, because Democratic presidential contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton favor withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq soon.
Though most Americans remain opposed to the Iraq war, they are evenly divided over whether the U.S. should bring the troops home or keep them there until the country stabilizes, and over whether the war is going well, according to a poll released Thursday by the Pew Research Center. A year ago, when Bush’s troop increase was just beginning, most preferred a U.S. withdrawal and said the military effort was going poorly.
Though the economy has overtaken the war as voters’ chief worry, the poll showed Iraq still affects people’s votes.
In a general-election matchup between McCain and Obama, McCain does 31 points better in the survey among independents who think the war is going well than with those who think it is going badly.
