McCain Backs Off War-Oil Link
EmailABC News’ Bret Hovell reports: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) stepped away Friday from seeming to suggest earlier in the day that the Iraq War was motivated by U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
At a town hall meeting in Denver Friday morning, McCain was discussing the war in Iraq, and comments about how long the United States will be involved in that region, when he pivoted quickly to energy policy.
“And I just want to promise you this: My friends, I will have an energy policy, that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East,” McCain said. “That will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.”
After landing in Phoenix later in the day, McCain told reporters that he was not saying that the conflict is about oil.
“We went to Iraq because we believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and he was going to use them,” McCain said, reiterating what he has said before on numerous occasions.
He said that he was actually referring to the first Gulf War when he talked about how a new energy policy would allow the Untied States never to have to “send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.”
“I was talking about that we had fought the first Gulf War for several reasons,” McCain said, noting primarily that Iraq had invaded its neighbor Kuwait.
“But also we didn’t want them to have control over the oil, and that part of the world is critical to us because of our dependency on foreign oil. And it’s more important than in any other part of the world.”
But he did not mention the first Gulf War during his town hall meeting in Denver. His comments then came in the context of a conversation about the latest Iraq struggle, and how his plans for Iraq differ from that of his Democratic opponents, who want to begin withdrawing troops quickly from Iraq.
“I believe that that would lead to catastrophe and chaos,” he said of the Democrats’ plans. “And that we would have the whole region, including the country, in such turmoil that we would be required to come back to the region.”
In the very next sentence, McCain said that he wanted to promise Americans that his energy policy would prevent future conflict in the Middle East, as noted above.
In Phoenix, McCain acknowledged how he might have created the impression that oil and the Iraq war were connected, and he sought to correct it.
“I’m sorry if there was a misconception of that. And I hope I cleared that up. … I’m sorry that the word ‘again’ somehow caused an upheaval.”
McCain said that even though he did not vote for war with Iraq because of the vast oil reserves in that region, he does believe that dependency on foreign oil is something that is taken into account.
“I think that if we’re dependent on anything outside the United States of America, it has to, it has to enter into any calculations that we make,” McCain said.
He said that his comments in Denver related only to his desire to be completely independent of foreign oil.
“It’s obvious that we are dependent on oil from the Middle East and that is something that we have to become independent of, because it’s a very unstable part of the world.”
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Of course oil is part of the equation.
Posted by: Ben Straub | May 2, 2008, 9:00 pm 9:00 pm
Looks like John is afraid of his own “straight talk.” Oh Johnny boy, don’t you know that if you want to be President you gotta know how to LIE well. Watch your girl Hilliary, she KNOWS how to do it right!!! Maybe she can help you out.
Posted by: Blog | May 2, 2008, 9:01 pm 9:01 pm
It looks like McCain goofed and told the truth. Ooops!
“Oh dear, excuse me! I didn’t mean to imply that we invaded Iraq to get the oil. Heaven Forbid! No, no, no. It was to get Sadam Hussein. Silly me. What was I thinking? No, we have to reduce our dependence on foreign oil so that we don’t have to go get any more Sadam Husseins.”
Posted by: Terrance Hodgins | May 2, 2008, 10:02 pm 10:02 pm
A “war for oil” which has cost over 4000 American lives, over 10,000 Iraqi lives and sponsored with over $10b American money? And we are still paying a gallon at $4? This is weird. Hillary and MaCain must hide in shame for supporting it.
Posted by: Harrison | May 2, 2008, 10:17 pm 10:17 pm
Obama wants to yank the troops out, and then RE DEPLOY them in afganistan and pakistan.
I guess he failed to mention that TOO will also cause thousands dead and cost billions per week.
Did you Obama lovers ever consider that?
ooops……………
Posted by: tomdavie | May 2, 2008, 10:25 pm 10:25 pm
Lieberman must have been hiding on the plane from Denver to Arizona. He “straight talked McCain” into denying his own “straight talk”. Sometimes when we age, we forget who we are pandering to…or lose our train of thought…or push the wrong button!!!Has anyone ever seen the video for “Land of Confusion” by Genesis from the 80′s? It’s worth archiving.
Posted by: madmaggie | May 2, 2008, 10:32 pm 10:32 pm
As Michael Kinsley has said, the definition of a gaffe is when you tell people the truth about what you are really thinking. McCain has twisted himself into a pretzel on almost every major issue to cater to the neo-cons on the right as well as independents in the middle. His bogus “explanation” that he really was referring to the first Iraq (Persian Gulf) War is more evidence that this guy will say anything to save his butt. The only question is, will the American people vote for a third term of lies?
Posted by: Steve S. | May 2, 2008, 11:51 pm 11:51 pm
Basically, it was a MAJOR screw up. Everybody picked up on that right away. Then Wolf had some cute little binket on there defending McCain and trying say that he really meant the 1st Gulf War and that we went to war with Iraq over weapons of mass destruction (which were never found of course). Then some other talking head was on there also in damage control mode and insisted that McCain was talking about the first Gulf War. These MSM/CFR shills are scrambling to defend McCain!
Then someone else had the guts to point out that we were TOLD the 1st Gulf War was fought to liberate Kuwait!
Posted by: Dave | May 3, 2008, 12:18 am 12:18 am
Are we really expected to vote for one of these three people?
Posted by: David | May 3, 2008, 12:30 am 12:30 am
So he was talking about the FIRST Gulf War…I see. The guy sounds like Paula Abdul last week. “I thought he sang twice. I guess I was looking at the wrong notes.” Here’s a thought…McCain/Abdul 08!
Posted by: Doug | May 3, 2008, 4:46 am 4:46 am
John Mc backs off on another issue. What is the reason.
A. He forgot
B. He flip floped
C. He lied
D. All of the above
Posted by: Jim B | May 3, 2008, 5:03 am 5:03 am
McCain is More of the same and we know it.
Lets just forget about McCain. With him, The republic is dead.
The Boosh Republicans are not even recongnizable as Republicans.=Big foreign spending for war and so called aid, but for us, it’s spending cuts at home. Americans would be hanging themselves voteing for McCAin!
If you want a protest vote against all three MSM picks, you have an option in Ron Paul..he is a REAL republican and hated for it by the establishment..good reason to vote for him and it’s a vote for SOMETHING, the American principles, the constitution, Liberty, Prosperity and PEACE! Let Washington know that we want REAL CHANGE!
Posted by: JJ | May 3, 2008, 6:53 am 6:53 am
” ‘We went to Iraq because we believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and he was going to use them,’ McCain said, reiterating what he has said before on numerous occasions.”
Question: Given that, how in the world does it make sense that he still says that, knowing what we know now, going into Iraq was a good idea?
Answer: It doesn’t make any sense at all.
Posted by: Jim | May 3, 2008, 7:51 am 7:51 am
mccain should be ashamed of himself. our leaders have a lot to pay when they stand befor God…The bible says HELL has enlarged herself. Its time we get behind President Barack Obama and get rid of these liars that knew all the time we were not helping Iraq people
Posted by: teddyo | May 3, 2008, 8:44 am 8:44 am
All three candidates SUCK. Wow, times are dark.
Posted by: merle | May 3, 2008, 10:43 am 10:43 am
McCain and Clinton only tell the truth by accident and are quick to pretend it never happened. Obama is the man to beat this clown. I respect that fact that he served, and he survived being a POW but that does not make him fit to lead the nation.
Posted by: Louis | May 3, 2008, 12:09 pm 12:09 pm
Tell that to the troops and families of loved ones who have died.
I’m suprised there isn’t massive protests against what he said- that means he was in on the reason why all along with BUSH CHENEY RUMSFELD and the rest of them.
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY FOR OIL.
Posted by: cbell | May 3, 2008, 1:15 pm 1:15 pm
Panama John McCain Promises His New Energy Policy Will Prevent Future Neccesity To Send Troops To War For Oil Again
Straight Talk Express One Minute, Doubletalk Express The Next For Panamanian-Born U.S. Senator From Arizona
The Iraq war was all about oil, suggested Senór McCain in one of his rare moments of honest-to-goodne…
Posted by: THE GUN TOTING LIBERAL™ | May 3, 2008, 3:29 pm 3:29 pm
Obama run this into the ground like they did you “bitter” statement. Funny how he simply says I misspoke and i’m sorry and it’s almost as if all is forgiven. Obama had to spend about a week apologizing and McCain and Clinton ran him into the ground with the help of the media. Calling obama elitest This is what is irritating about this election. The stunning hypocrisy is sickening.
Posted by: E. L. | May 3, 2008, 5:05 pm 5:05 pm
Great, he made it clear we are in the Middle East for oil. It’s only rational for us as the superior country in the world to exert our might to control such an essential resource. Liberals can lament all they want, but history will view our military endeavors as acts of rational self interest. It’s best to stop viewing everything with archaic morality glasses and accept the realities of life.
Posted by: nonethicist | May 3, 2008, 9:45 pm 9:45 pm
“[John McCain] was sure to emphasize over and over again that the reason he supported the War in Iraq was because he “believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and he was going to use them.””
Okay, so we ‘believed’ something and invaded a country, killed untold numbers of people. Then, to our horror, (right?) we discovered that our ‘belief’ was dead wrong. The least, the very least, we should have done was to say “oops, my bad, this won’t happen again” and discreetly get out of there. I would like to ask the straight–talking John McCain: Why do we keep compounding a most grievous error by our continued belligerency?
Posted by: R M Gopal | May 3, 2008, 11:11 pm 11:11 pm
So, we invaded Iraq for oil. I guess that also means that we know when we’re leaving.
Posted by: Framecrash | May 4, 2008, 8:56 am 8:56 am
Everyone voting on May 6, please remember that Hillary’s position on Iraq was virtually identical to McCain’s. Only Obama spoke out against the war and was absolutely dead on about what would happen, post invasion. He’s the only guy running with the forthrightness, wisdom and guts to lead this country. The gas tax holiday, tho trivial, is only the latest example where McCain and Hillary stand together advocating what virtually every economist says is a stupid policy. Obama stands as the lone voice of reason. Hopefully, the American electorate will see through the nonsense and reward Obama for his candor with their votes.
Posted by: Michael | May 4, 2008, 9:23 am 9:23 am
I think if Ron Paul would of had a little more air time and got his message out that people would have had a viable candidate. But the brainwashed ignorance of most Americans is sick. They still think that is about Rep and Dems. Wake up …there is no difference. All three want to finish destroying the constitution. Ron Paul was they only choice but the institution did everything they could to stop a true American …for what he stood for…Liberty.
Posted by: Amir Rana | May 4, 2008, 9:32 pm 9:32 pm
Oil was of course one of the considerations in the Iraq war. After all it was the Carter Doctrine that stated we would protect our interests in that parts of the world, including military force if necessary. That was because the area is so important to us. Its a statement of U.S. foreign policy and it hasn’t changed since Carter.
Posted by: wiz | May 5, 2008, 1:54 pm 1:54 pm