McCain concerned over Casey

Posted: Thursday, February 01, 2007 11:28 AM by Huma Zaidi
Filed Under: Security

From NBC's Courtney Kube
In an extremely rare public reprimand of a four-star U.S. general, Sen. John McCain expressed "serious concerns" in his opening statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee about Gen. George Casey's nomination to be Army chief of staff.

"And while I do not in any way question your honor, your patriotism or your service to our country, I do question some of the decisions and judgments you have made over the past two and a half years as commander of Multi-National Forces in Iraq," McCain said. "And you'll need to explain why your assessment of the situation in Iraq has differed so radically from that of most observers and why your predictions of future success have been so unrealistically rosy," he later added.

EMAIL THIS

Comments

I seriously question Caseys decesions in iraq, it was under Casey that things went to hell in a hand basket, although I realize Casey was hamstrung by lame duck/vice lame duck and rummy, if Casey cared about america as much as his career he would have said somethig.

ex-marine,vietvet,america (Sent Thursday, February 01, 2007 11:49 AM)

It's kind of wierd that McCain supports Bush's policy but criticizes Casey's execution, and accepts Bush's falsehoods but blasts Casey for repeating them.

Scott Kimball III, Victoria, Texas (Sent Thursday, February 01, 2007 11:53 AM)

Now that's the pot calling the kettle black

catwoman, Chico, CA (Sent Thursday, February 01, 2007 12:10 PM)

Doesn't this count as "blaming the troops"? A General is not a civilian...

Asad (Sent Thursday, February 01, 2007 12:33 PM)

This guy has already proven that he's congenitally unable to just keep his mouth shut-- This election cycle's new John Kerry-- Enough of these perennial candidates!

Nancy Bush, Aiken, SC (Sent Thursday, February 01, 2007 12:34 PM)

You don't get four stars by telling the President what he doesn't want to hear. That is the Legislative Branch's job.

Steve Turner Cedar Falls Iowa (Sent Thursday, February 01, 2007 12:39 PM)

Maybe McCain is providing cover for Casey to blame it all on Bush. Maybe Casey is going to come back and tell the senate that the President's office ordered him to lie...the plot thickens.

Amy B Portland, ME (Sent Thursday, February 01, 2007 1:30 PM)

If the Joint Chiefs of Staff are nothing more that Title X Motherf------s, as described by General Tommy Franks? Who cares who is named to that Postition? What we need to do is revisit the Goldwater-Nichols Act as has been suggested by many General officers, including the retiring Commander of NATO.

Robert Stelling, Chandler, AZ (Sent Thursday, February 01, 2007 1:39 PM)

After what happened to Gen. Shinseki it's no wonder that Casey turned cheerleader for this administration. Generals may not be civilians but the military is a viable career option and once it became clear that this administration would hang any dissenters out to dry -and Shinseki's great sin was only that he felt they needed more troops, not actual opposition to the Iraq blunder- it became a good career move to swallow doubts and get in line. Sen. McCain, on the other hand, has no excuse for cheerleading this administration.

John Doe, The Peanut Gallery (Sent Thursday, February 01, 2007 1:50 PM)

He's no Shinseki.

Mike Ivy (Sent Thursday, February 01, 2007 2:05 PM)

A general is not a civilian, but neither is a general properly fit in with the broad label of "troops"...particularly when that general is essentially in charge of the whole operation. One would think that you would want someone in that position who would speak candidly and honestly about the situation, building upon decades of service to make realistic assessments of what is actually going on. But that is not the way of things in this Administration.

Carrie, NW Iowa (Sent Thursday, February 01, 2007 2:14 PM)

John McCain====One more flip-flop.

Seattle Sue (Sent Thursday, February 01, 2007 3:05 PM)

What the hell side of the fence is this Bush brown nosing lackey McCain on? Talk about flip-flop, isn't this flip-flop-flip, tah-dah? He's becoming quite a gymnast lately.

Brian, Cedar Hill, TX (Sent Thursday, February 01, 2007 3:30 PM)

Maybe McCain'n not appearing to know whether he's coming or going has something to do with his age.

catwoman, Salem, OR (Sent Thursday, February 01, 2007 5:45 PM)

catwoman. Maybe you could give him one of your lives, y'know, for the sake of the country.

Steve Turner Cedar Falls Iowa (Sent Thursday, February 01, 2007 7:04 PM)

The only way to register their concerns, not with words like McCain and others, but with their VOTE to NOT approve of his nomination as USA Chief of Staff. That is the ONLY WAY to get the attention of the administration (but it won't happen - something to do with spines). I am a 24-year retired vet and a life-long Republican.

Charles Swanson, Sierra Vista, AZ (Sent Friday, February 02, 2007 10:13 AM)

Does anybody know the answer to this question? At some point in time, didn't McCain have to vote on the approval of Casey to his command? kind of weird if he did, then attacks him for it. Seems he would then have to blame himself for his vote. Oh, excuse me, I forgot the republicans never take the blame for anything that goes wrong, must have been Bill & Hillary's fault.

beverdambob (Sent Friday, February 02, 2007 10:34 AM)

for the x-marine-vietnam vet. Don't you know there is
no such thing as an x-marine? unless of course you
may have a questionable discharge? I spent time in the Air Force and the only way you should call your-
self an x-something is if you've a questionable dis-
charge. STand up and be proud of having been one of
the proud and the few that are able to call themselves marines. Marine! Now carry on! Now as for
Casey's clusterflops.....

tom tecumseh, MI. (Sent Sunday, January 20, 2008 2:29 PM)

for beverdambob. Of course it was clinton's fault.
and all the rest of the demokrats also!

tom tecumseh, MI. (Sent Sunday, January 20, 2008 2:32 PM)

SEND A COMMENT

PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the blog, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):

Your name, city and state (John Doe, Seattle, Wash.):

Your e-mail address (jdoe@msnbc.com):

Your website (it's okay if you don't have one):

Remember me? (We'll keep it private) Remember me?

TRACKBACKS

Trackbacks are links to weblogs that reference this post. Like comments, trackbacks do not appear until approved by us. The trackback URL for this post is: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/trackback.aspx?PostID=47548