Guess who's McCain's senior foreign policy advisor? None other than PNAC/CLI's Randy Scheunemann!

[flpoljunkie]

The honorary co-chairs of the Committee to LIberate Iraq, as you may recall, were Senators Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh. And, of course, we are all familiar with the Project for the New American Century neocon bozos.)

Iraqi Offensive Revives Debate for Campaigns

By MICHAEL COOPER and LARRY ROHTER
Published: March 30, 2008

The Democrats, who are calling for phased troop withdrawals, are beginning to point to the fighting in Basra as evidence that the American troop buildup has failed to provide stability and political reconciliation — particularly if the fighting leads one militia, the Mahdi Army, to pull out of its cease-fire; that could lead to a new spate of sectarian violence across the country. Some are saying the fighting strengthens their case for troop withdrawals.

But the McCain campaign is hoping to turn that argument on its head, asserting that the battle in Basra shows just how dangerous the situation on the ground in Iraq is. It says this bolsters Mr. McCain’s argument that a premature withdrawal of American troops would lead to more widespread violence, instability and perhaps even genocide.

“I think that what this demonstrates is that there are very powerful forces that still remain that do not want to see the success of the central government and that would relish the prospect of the American withdrawal so that they could try to fight or shoot their way into power,” said Randy Scheunemann, the McCain campaign’s senior foreign policy adviser. “Would you rather have the Maliki government in control, or the Iranian-backed special groups in control, or Al Qaeda in control?”

But at a news conference on Saturday in Johnstown, Pa., Senator Barack Obama of Illinois suggested the news from Basra highlighted his contention that American military involvement could not solve the deep-seated problems facing Iraq.

“I don’t want to suggest I’ve absorbed all of the facts,” about the situation in Basra, Mr. Obama said. But, he continued, what he had heard “appears consistent with my general analysis. The presence of our troops and their excellence has resulted in some reduction in violence. It has not resolved the underlying tensions that exist in Iraq.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/us/politics/30campaign.html?hp

[annabanana]

1. Maliki is a better friend to Iran than al Sadr is...

This inconvenient little factoid will NOT be in evidence much in the official statements from B*shCoInc.

[flpoljunkie]

2. Yep. Sadr is a religious fanatic, but a nationalist.