Free Republic

U.S. Senator John McCain says now that NATO military intervention in Libya is ending, military action to protect civilians in Syria might be considered.

VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez expressed anger over the death of Muammar Gaddafi, calling it an "outrage" and saying the ousted Libyan strongman was a "martyr". "Sadly the death of Gaddafi has been confirmed," said Chavez, who had just returned to Venezuela from cancer treatment in Cuba. "They assassinated him. It is another outrage," the Venezuelan leader told reporters in the town of La Grita. "We shall remember Gaddafi our whole lives as a great fighter, a revolutionary and a martyr," he said. Chavez had defended Gaddafi since the start of the uprising against the Libyan leader's regime in February, and...

U.S. Interests: Dictator Moammar Gadhafi finally met his bloody end at a rathole Thursday, and Libyan crowds celebrated. President Obama praised the rebels, proclaiming: "You have won your revolution." Not so fast. If there is one thing that we ought to know by now, it's that getting rid of a dictator like Gadhafi is the easy part. Gadhafi was a monster, but a known quality. What's hard is ensuring that what comes after isn't worse. The cheers heard as Gadhafi's body was dragged through the streets are mere echoes of those that followed the downfall of the Shah of Iran...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama hailed Muammar Gaddafi's death on Thursday as a warning to authoritarian leaders across the Middle East that iron-fisted rule "inevitably comes to an end," and as vindication for his cautious strategy toward Libya. Obama joined U.S. politicians and ordinary Americans in welcoming the demise of Gaddafi, who was for decades regarded as a nemesis of American presidents, and also claimed some of the credit for the Libyan strongman's downfall. ... "This marks the end of a long and painful chapter for the people of Libya who now have the opportunity to determine their own...

WASHINGTON -- Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on Sunday wouldn't rule out U.S. military action if Pakistan's intelligence agencies continue supporting terrorists who are attacking American forces. Outgoing Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen last week accused Pakistan's intelligence agency of backing the Haqqani network, a terror group active in Afghanistan but based out of Pakistan who attacked the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan and detonated a truck bomb that wounded scores of American soldiers. Arguing that Pakistan has made a "tremendous miscalculation" in allowing the Haqqanis to operate without consequence, Graham said the U.S. won't make the same mistake...

Evidence collected by a young London-based organization called Human Rights Investigations indicates that when Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain went to Benghazi in April to express his support for Libyan rebels, he visited the site at which the rebels publicly beheaded an alleged pro-Gaddafi “mercenary” only weeks before. [ ... ] Arizona senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, made a surprise visit to Benghazi in order to publicly call for stepped-up American support of the rebellion. McCain spoke glowingly of the rebels and their cause, even saying of the Libyan rebels: “They are my heroes.” Now a new...

On the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) appeared separately on “Fox News Sunday” to warn that the United States needs to stay active in the Middle East in order to fight the War on Terror. McCain said that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were correct, but also talked about mistakes that were made. “I don't think we should ever forget that those [Sept. 11, 2001] attacks originated in Afghanistan. I think we did the right thing there, but I also think we've learned a lot of lessons,” McCain said. McCain...

SAN ANTONIO - Despite being asked by convention leaders to appear as state governor and not a presidential candidate, Gov. Rick Perry endorsed an aggressive foreign policy doctrine, including support for the concept of pre-emptive strikes, in his welcoming remarks Monday at the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention. Speaking to thousands of veterans and other registrants at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, Perry also strongly defended the United States' unilateral powers in declaring war. 'A dangerous world' "It's a dangerous world that we live in today," Perry said. "As the 10th anniversary of the attacks of 9/11 approach,...

US Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain has lashed out at Russia, saying it could be the next country to experience a Libya-style uprising. ­But Senator McCain has a very far-fetched outlook, believes RT's Washington correspondent Gayane Chichikyan. McCain is sure that the Arab Spring will rage on and will make it to countries like China and Russia, which according to him “need democracy” just as Libya does. At some point he even said that Libya has already achieved democracy, which is far from reality according to the situation on the ground.

Arizona Sen. John McCain said the United States must lead the world in providing support to Libya as they begin their post-Gadhafi era. "I think we would be well-served if we make sure that there is not an extremist takeover or hijacking of this revolution," McCain said. McCain appeared on CNN's "The Situation Room", where he said an earlier and stronger showing of power by the U.S. in the air could have shortened the conflict significantly. "The only thing that was holding [Gadhafi] in power was money and fear," McCain said. "Once those are dissipated by military strength, it is...

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) today released the following statement applauding President Obama for calling on Bashar al Assad to leave power in Syria, and urging other nations to also call for and take action to end the Assad regime: “We applaud President Obama for calling on Bashar al Assad to leave power, a position we have long argued should be the policy of the United States.(snip) “We urge other nations to join the United States in demanding an end to the Assad regime, whose legitimacy is clearly exhausted. We...

The US should keep as many as 13,000 troops in Iraq beyond the end-of-year deadline for ending its eight-year combat mission there to help keep the peace around hot spots, according to John McCain, the influential Republican senator. (snip) “I understand the war weariness of the American people ... but I also believe that our interests are our values, for one thing,” he told the FT, adding that he was “puzzled” when people say the US should not act when Muammer Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, has been promising to go house to house and kill Libyans who oppose him. “We...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned on Tuesday that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi is "serious" about attacking European cities in order to pressure European officials to cease their airstrikes against Libya. "He actually means it," Graham said of Gadhafi. "Hitler meant it. He means it." Graham spoke in a colloquy with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and used borderline apocalyptic tones about the need to remove Gadhafi from power. "I know we're a war-weary nation, but there is no upside to Gadhafi staying in power," he said. "That is a national security nightmare for this country." Graham added that while the top...

John McCain has found a new talking point: the growing division within the Republican Party over the nation’s military forays abroad. He referred again to the split up in a panel on Afghanistan yesterday in Washington at the Institute for the Study of War, just a week after telling ABC’s Christiane Amanpour that “there’s always been an isolationist strain in the Republican Party, that Pat Buchanan wing.” But yesterday he introduced a few new terms. Now the tension within the party is between “the Eisenhower Republicans and the Taft Republicans, the internationalists and the isolationists.” Forget that Eisenhower’s 1961 Farewell...

Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) are working together to expand the U.S.' role in the Arab Spring, according to The Washington Post. Kerry and McCain traveled to Egypt last weekend with eight Fortune 500 executives to explore how the U.S. can expand economic investment in that country after the fall of Hosni Mubarak. They envision similar plans across the Middle East in the aftermath of the Middle East revolts that would be similar to the U.S.' “Marshall Plan,” in which the U.S. invested billions of dollars in war-torn European nations after World War II.

Elevating the fallacy of the false alternative to a foreign policy, John McCain and a few others believe Republicans who oppose U.S. intervention in Libya’s civil war — and who think a decade of warfare in Afghanistan is enough — are isolationists. This is less a thought than a flight from thinking, which involves making sensible distinctions. Last Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” McCain warned that the GOP has always had “an isolation strain.” He calls it “the Pat Buchanan wing,” which he contrasts with “the Republican Party that has been willing to stand up for freedom for people all...

WASHINGTON — Senators John F. Kerry and John McCain, seeking to defuse a contentious debate over funding for US military operations in Libya, proposed a resolution yesterday offering congressional support for President Obama’s policy in the North African country. The senators, both high-profile members of the chamber and former nominees for the presidency, sought to project a united front in support of the NATO-led action to protect Libyan civilians from Moammar Khadafy’s forces and curtail the dictator’s ability to wage war. (snip) Some legal scholars say the resolution, despite assurances from McCain and Kerry, does not limit the current mission....

Republican Senator John McCain today ripped into the current crop of GOP candidates, accusing them of breaking with the party's traditions by preaching 'isolationism.' Mr McCain, the Republican candidate in the 2008 presidential elections, said if former President Ronald Reagan were still alive he would have been disappointed in last week's Republican presidential debate in which candidates voiced impatience with U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and now Libya. Mr McCain told ABC's This Week: 'He would be saying: "That's not the Republican Party of the 20th century, and now the 21st century. That is not the Republican Party that...

WASHINGTON — US Senator John McCain on Sunday expressed concern about growing isolationism in the Republican party, particularly among those vying for the 2012 presidential nomination. McCain, the 2008 Republican nominee, said he was alarmed to hear various candidates at a campaign forum last Monday express opposition to US military involvement in the NATO military assault on Libya's Moamer Kadhafi. "There's always been an isolation strain in the Republican party, that Pat Buchanan (a former Republican presidential contender) wing of our party. But now it seems to have moved more center stage, so to speak," he said. There is no...

Via Playbook, John McCain raps the Republican presidential field for what he sees as an isolationist strain that's emerging as the candidates shift away from strict hawkishness on foreign policy, and which cropped up at the New Hampshire debate last Monday. From the pre-taped interview with "This Week:" McCAIN: “Well, I was more concerned about what the candidates in New Hampshire the other night said. This is isolationism. There's always been an … isolation strain on the Republican Party — that Pat Buchanan wing of our party. But now it seems to have moved more center stage, so to speak....

(snip) Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota said Mr. Obama "was absolutely wrong" in his decision to intervene in Libya. "I'd bring them home as quickly as possible," Texas Rep. Ron Paul said of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, "and I'd get them out of Iraq as well, and I wouldn't start a war in Libya, I'd quit bombing Yemen, and I'd quit bombing Pakistan. I'd start taking care of people here at home, because we could save hundreds of billions of dollars." "I was incredibly disappointed," Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said. "No one seemed to have a passion for...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that it’s time to consider international intervention in Syria to avoid the further “slaughter” of people there by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. “If it made sense to protect the Libyan people against Gadhafi, and it did because they were going to get slaughtered if we hadn’t sent NATO in when he was on the outskirts of Benghazi, the question for the world [is], have we gotten to that point in Syria,” Graham said on the CBS' "Face the Nation."

YANGON, Myanmar, June 3 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., says Myanmar's new military-backed government could face the kind of revolution sweeping through Arab nations. McCain said unless Myanmar, formerly Burma, is willing to make pro-democracy changes peacefully, it could be wracked by the kind of unrest leaders in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East are experiencing, CNN reported Friday. "The winds of change are now blowing, and they will not be confined to the Arab world," McCain told reporters in the former capital, Yangon, formerly Rangoon. "Governments that shun evolutionary reforms now will eventually face revolutionary...

BANGKOK — Ending a three-day visit to Myanmar, Senator John McCain warned the country’s leaders that “the winds of change” now blowing in the Middle East could spread if governments do not listen to the needs of their people. “Governments that shun evolutionary reforms now will eventually face revolutionary change later,” he told reporters at a news conference in the main city, Yangon, according to wire service reports. He urged the government to free political prisoners and to assure the safety of the pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who said recently that she was planning to travel through...

Sen. John McCain on Sunday said Libyan civilians are dying in large part because the Obama administration has refused to commit the full weight of the nation’s military to the fight to overthrow strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi. “This thing could have been over a long time ago,” Mr. McCain, an Arizona Republican who was the party’s 2008 presidential nominee, said on “Fox News Sunday.” (snip) A quicker end to the fighting, which must include the removal of Col. Gadhafi from power, Mr. McCain said, would make it less likely that terrorists would gain a foothold in Libya.

In an effort to satisfy those arguing he needs to seek congressional authorization to continue US military activity in accordance with the War Powers Resolution, President Obama wrote a letter to congressional leaders this afternoon suggesting that the role is now so “limited” he does not need to seek congressional approval. “Since April 4,” the president wrote, “U.S. participation has consisted of: (1) non-kinetic support to the NATO-led operation, including intelligence, logistical support, and search and rescue assistance; (2) aircraft that have assisted in the suppression and destruction of air defenses in support of the no-fly zone; and (3) since...

Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years, has rejected the argument that torture was necessary to successfully combat terrorism - and denied claims that waterboarding detainees provided intelligence that helped end the manhunt for Osama bin Laden. (snip) On CBS' "The Early Show" Friday, McCain denied claims made by Rep. Peter King, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, who said earlier this week that through the use of such tactics, a courier for the al Qaeda leader was identified. (snip) "Through normal, conventional...

President Obama should "state unequivocally" that Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad should step down from power, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Thursday. The trio ramped up pressure on Obama to take a stronger stance against the Assad regime, which has violently cracked down on anti-government protesters demanding reforms. "We urge President Obama to state unequivocally — as he did in the case of Qaddafi and Mubarak — that it is time for Assad to go," the senators said in a statement, referring to the leaders of Libya and Egypt. "The President should take tangible...

PARIS (AFP) — The revolt against Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi could stall unless the rebels battling his regime receive weapons and increased air support, influential US Senator John McCain warned Wednesday. "There is a possibility if not a probability of a stalemate, and that should be of deep concern to us," the former presidential candidate and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee told AFP. "The United States needs to recognise the TNC as France and Italy have done. They need to get supplies and equipment into the liberation forces, and we need to get American air power back...

Of all the inexplicable Beltway media fetishes, none is more bizarre than the undying love affair with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). So there he was, yet again, on a Sunday morning talk show, pretending to be relevant in a world that has long since passed him by. And how could any right-thinking (in the most nonpartisan sense) person take him seriously? The topic this Sunday, on CNN’s “State of the Union” program, was Libya, and specifically, how imperative it was for the U.S. to more forcefully engage in yet another expensive war. “If we have a stalemate, I think it’s...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Monday that he doesn't think it would be appropriate for the U.S. or NATO to intervene militarily in Syria the way they had in Libya. "I don't see a scenario right now or anytime in the near future where the injection of U.S. or NATO military action would in any way beneficially help the situation, I'm sorry to say," McCain said on NBC's "Today" show.

McCain calls the Libyan rebels his “heroes.” A year and a half earlier, in Tripoli, he described Gaddafi as America’s friend. Senator John McCain’s description of the Libyan rebels as his “heroes” has raised numerous eyebrows. PJM editor David Steinberg has had the excellent idea of seeking comment from the senator’s office on the extensive video evidence of atrocities committed by some of the senator’s newfound “heroes.”While one is at it, the senator should probably also be reminded about this: namely, his cordial handshake with Muammar al-Gaddafi in Tripoli in August 2009. There is more here, including McCain’s allusion to...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee sees a Libyan stalemate and wants NATO to bomb Moammar Gadhafi's inner circle and military headquarters. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham says those closest to Gadhafi "need to wake up every day wondering, 'Will this my last?'" Graham tells CNN's "State of the Union" that the quickest way to end the stalemate is "to cut the head of the snake off."

(snip) "I reminded them that Kuwait and Saudi Arabia reimbursed us after Operation Desert Storm," McCain says. "They said they'd be glad to discuss that.(snip) "They're very good people," he says. "Mainly well-educated, a number of women in the [Transitional National Council] -- very normal, dedicated people." (snip) McCain dismissed concerns that rebel forces include some veterans of al Qaeda. "I'm sure that there may be some element there, but I guarantee you that they didn't rise up because they wanted to be al Qaeda fighters," McCain says. "They rose up because they wanted to throw off the yoke of...

(AP) BENGHAZI, Libya - U.S. Sen. John McCain, one of the strongest proponents in Congress of the American military intervention in Libya, said Friday that Libyan rebels fighting Moammar Gadhafi’s troops are his heroes. (snip) When Obama acted with limited congressional consultation, McCain - who was the 2008 Republican presidential contender running against Obama - defended the president, saying he couldn’t wait for Congress to take even a few days to debate the use of force. If he had, "there would have been nothing left to save in Benghazi," the rebels’ de-facto capital.

Benghazi, Libya (CNN) -- Libyan opposition leaders received a major morale boost Friday as a top U.S. senator made a surprise visit to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi and urged greater American involvement in the bloody campaign to oust longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi. The visit from Arizona Sen. John McCain came a day after the United States said it was deploying predator drones to Libya. (snip) He said he was against U.S. troops on the ground -- echoing Obama administration policy -- but argued that Western powers need to do more to "facilitate" the delivery of weapons and training for...

BENGHAZI, Libya, April 22 (UPI) -- Demonstrators waving American flags were on hand Friday morning when U.S. Sen. John McCain arrived in the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi. McCain's visit came one day after the Pentagon announced that Barack President Obama had authorized the use of armed U.S. Predator drones in Libya, CNN reported. "The American people support you very strongly and we know it's necessary to help as much as we can," McCain told a crowd of about 100 Libyans.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. John McCain, one of the strongest proponents in Congress of the U.S. military intervention in Libya, is heading to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi for a meeting with forces fighting to overthrow Moammar Gadhafi, an aide told The Associated Press. McCain was scheduled to arrive in Benghazi on Friday, said Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for the senator.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday evening that he and a group of negotiators have “nailed down” language on a Libya resolution and are waiting for instructions from leadership on how to proceed. The measure would serve as a symbolic gesture of support for President Barack Obama’s use of military force in the North African country. Under the War Powers Act, Congress must authorize continued military presence in Libya after a May deadline if American troops are still active there, but it’s unclear if the Senate needs to act. “We pretty well got the resolution nailed down and now we’re...

Obama is scheduled to speak at the National Defense University at Ft. McNair in Washington, D.C. about Libya at 7:30 p.m. EDT.

With a non-fly effectively put into place over Libya, Sen. John McCain says momentum in the fighting between the Muammar Qaddafi regime and rebel fighters can now swing back to anti-Qaddafi forces, but acknowledges they will need more weapons and better training. McCain, R-Ariz., said on CBS' "The Early Show" that he hopes the United States, or others in the international community, supplies rebels with arms, as it once did insurgents fighting the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. (snip) "If the goal then is to get him out, does that ultimately mean that the U.S. could end up arming the rebels...

It is official, Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize winning President of an unprovoked country, has launched an attack on, Libya, a Mideast country. So much for that moral high ground Obama and the Democrats claimed with the U.S. invasion of Iraq. So much for Obama’s “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” as predicted by the Norwegian Nobel Committee that issued Obama the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. So much for that Obama rhetoric that the future of those Mideast countries “will be determined by its people.” Those days are over, Obama is a war hypocrite.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Sunday that a no-fly zone will not be enough to stop Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's brutal crackdown on rebels but he precluded the use of ground troops there. "Now, a no-fly zone is not enough. There needs to be other efforts made," McCain said on CNN's “State of the Union.” The 2008 Republican presidential nominee added that he was not referring to ground troops, but instead to jamming Gadhafi's communications systems, sending more aircraft carriers into the area as well as sending weapons to Libyan rebels. "I want to preclude ground troops," McCain said. "That...

Barely nine months into office, President Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize — with the committee citing Obama’s “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy” and his support for nuclear arms reduction. "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," said Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Committee. But the prize shocked the White House and international observers — some of whom are already questioning what Obama has done in his short time as president to deserve the honor. The White...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Two influential US senators Monday filed a resolution calling for President Barack Obama to recognize the Libyan opposition force battling against the regime of Moamer Kadhafi. The resolution, which does not carry the weight of becoming law if passed, also urges Obama to support a proposed no-fly zone over Libya to protect the rebels, who have been in retreat from Kadhafi's forces in recent days. It also asks Obama's administration to develop a strategy aimed at fulfilling the president's stated goal: the end of the Kadhafi regime. Senator John McCain, who co-authored the resolution with Senator Joseph...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain called Moammar Khadafy "insane" today as he reaffirmed his call for a US-backed no-fly zone over Libya to prevent its embattled leader from using aircraft to slaughter its citizens. During an interview on ABC News' "This Week," McCain told Christiane Amanpour that the US cannot "risk allowing Gadhafi to massacre people from the air, both by helicopter and fixed-wing [aircraft]." McCain (R-Ariz.) furthered reiterated his support for imposing a no-fly zone, saying Ghadafi's air assets were "not overwhelming." "Let's just call a spade a spade. A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to...

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., reiterated his call for a U.S.-backed no-fly zone over Libya this morning and called Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi "insane."

(snip) "We are spending over $500 billion dollars, not counting Iraq and Afghanistan, on our nation's defense. Don't tell me we can't do a no fly zone over Tripoli," the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services said at the Atlantic Council Tuesday evening. "I love the military, I love it, it's been my life, but they always seem to find reasons why you can't do something rather than why you can," Sen. McCain said. (snip) On Libyan leader Qaddafi, McCain said, "This guy's days are numbered. The question is -- is can we shorten those number of days to...

Exile is one option for Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday. When asked if the United States would consider military aid to help topple the regime, Carney said “all options remain on the table.” President Barack Obama was meeting with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at the White House on Monday to discuss sanctions and other potential actions against the Gadhafi government. Gadhafi has ordered the toughest crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators of any Middle Eastern leader whose rule is threatened by anti-government uprisings. The regime’s violent response prompted the United States, Britain and...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Sunday that China could be one of the next countries caught up in the wave of Middle East pro-democracy protest fervor. "I'm not sure that these winds of change are going to be confined to blowing just in the Arab world and the Magrhreb," McCain said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "To wit, what's happening in China and other countries around the world," he said. "I think it's going to happen all over the world."