In AIPAC Speech, McCain Hits Obama on Iran, Iraq

Senator John McCain of Arizona used a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobby, to lambaste Senator Barack Obama on two fronts: he charged that Mr. Obama’s calls for diplomacy with Iran were misguided and insufficient, and that his proposal to begin withdrawing United States troops from Iraq would lead to chaos in the region and endanger Israel.

In remarks that Senator McCain planned to deliver in a cavernous room here at the Washington convention center, he dwelled on the threat that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose – and criticized the positions of Mr. Obama, his likely Democratic rival.

“The Iranians have spent years working toward a nuclear program,’’ Mr. McCain was to say, according to excerpts from the speech provided by his campaign. “And the idea that they now seek nuclear weapons because we refuse to engage in presidential-level talks is a serious misreading of history,’’ he added, noting that previous overtures by the Clinton administration had failed.

“Even so, we hear talk of a meeting with the Iranian leadership offered up as if it were some sudden inspiration, a bold new idea that somehow nobody has ever thought of before,’’ he said in the advance text of his speech, which was provided by his campaign.
“Yet it’s hard to see what such a summit with President Ahmadinejad would actually gain, except an earful of anti-Semitic rants, and a worldwide audience for a man who denies one Holocaust and talks before frenzied crowds about starting another. Such a spectacle would harm Iranian moderates and dissidents, as the radicals and hardliners strengthen their position and suddenly acquire the appearance of respectability.”

Mr. McCain was returning to a familiar line of attack on Mr. Obama – who has made a point of saying that he would use diplomacy even with countries that disagree with the United States — for his statement during a debate last summer that he would be willing to meet with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea without preconditions.
The Obama campaign countered swiftly. “John McCain stubbornly insists on continuing a dangerous and failed foreign policy that has clearly made the United States and Israel less secure,’’ Hari Sevugan, a campaign spokesman said.

“Here are the results of the policies that John McCain has supported, and would continue. During the Bush Administration, Iran has dramatically expanded its nuclear program, going from zero centrifuges to more than 3000 centrifuges,’’ he said. “During the Bush Administration, Iran has expanded its influence throughout a vitally important region, plying Hamas and Hezbollah with money and arms. During the Bush Administration, Hamas took over Gaza. Most importantly, the war in Iraq that John McCain supported and promises to continue indefinitely has done more to dramatically strengthen and embolden Iran than anything in a generation.’’

Mr. Obama and his campaign have stressed that while the Democrat would depart from the Bush administration’s policy of refusing to meet with certain nations that fail to meet preconditions, he would not necessarily engage in presidential-level talks with them.
Mr. McCain – who has taken a hard-line stance on Iran, and who joked early in the campaign by suggesting renaming the Beach Boys song “Barbara Ann’’ as “Bomb Iran” – referred in his speech here to creating “real-world pressures’’ on Iran.

He called for the United Nations to impose tougher political and economic sanctions, and saying that if it fails to do so that the United States should lead “like-minded countries” in imposing their own sanctions, including some sanctions that he said would “impose a heavy cost on the regime’s leaders, including the denial of visas and freezing of assets.’’ And he spoke of spearheading a worldwide divestment campaign, modeled on the one that helped pressure South Africa to end apartheid.

And Mr. McCain reiterated his call for applying sanctions to “restrict Iran’s ability to import refined petroleum products, on which it is highly dependent.’’
He also criticized Mr. Obama for opposing an amendment he had supported that called for designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization responsible for killing American troops in Iraq. “Over three quarters of the Senate supported this obvious step, but not Senator Obama,’’ he said.

And he argued that Mr. Obama’s calls for withdrawing troops from Iraq could endanger Israel. “You would never know from listening to those who are still caught up in angry arguments over yesterday’s options, but our troops in Iraq have made hard-won progress under General Petraeus’ new strategy,’’ he said. “And Iraqi political leaders have moved ahead slowly and insufficiently, but forward nonetheless. Sectarian violence declined dramatically, Sunnis in Anbar province and throughout Iraq are cooperating in the fight against al Qaeda, and Shia extremist militias no longer control Basra the Maliki government and its forces are in charge. Al Qaeda terrorists are on the run, and our troops are going to make sure they never come back.’’
“It’s worth recalling that America’s progress in Iraq is the direct result of the new strategy that Senator Obama opposed,’’ he said. “It was the strategy he predicted would fail, when he voted cut off funds for our forces in Iraq. He now says he intends to withdraw combat troops from Iraq one to two brigades per month until they are all removed. He will do so regardless of the conditions in Iraq, regardless of the consequences for our national security, regardless of Israel’s security, and in disregard of the best advice of our commanders on the ground.’’

“This course would surely result in a catastrophe,’’ he said. “If our troops are ordered to make a forced retreat, we risk all-out civil war, genocide, and a failed state in the heart of the Middle East. Al Qaeda terrorists would rejoice in the defeat of the United States. Allowing a potential terrorist sanctuary would profoundly affect the security of the United States, Israel, and our other friends, and would invite further intervention from Iraq’s neighbors, including an emboldened Iran.

We must not let this happen