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In this week’s issue of Newsweek, Republican Presidential candidate John McCain tried to reassure voters about his position on a potential war with Iran. Michael Hirsh interviewed McCain and asked him if his Los Angeles speech last week was designed to quiet some voters’ fears that he wants to lead the nation to war against Iran.

McCain answered, “No, not so much. I first said that in the 1990s, when I wasn't running for president. I was trying to express my views that the veteran hates war more than anyone else, because they mourn the loss of a comrade and know the horrors of war firsthand. I'll repeat this time after time—that armed conflict is the last option.”

Ok, so John McCain won’t go to war with Iran, or will he? In his answer to the next Iranian related question, where he was asked if he would go to war should Iran not give its nuclear program, McCain said, “Well, if I could not evade your question but put it in a more sensible form, I think we have to exhaust every possible option. I think there are many options that are viable, including those in conversations I had with [French President Nicolas] Sarkozy and [British Prime Minister Gordon] Brown on my recent trip to Europe, on a meaningful path to sanctions. But I will also state unequivocally that we cannot afford to have Iran … acquire nuclear weapons because of the obvious consequences—proliferation in the region, the threat to the existence of Israel, etc.”

So even if war is a last resort, he wouldn’t rule it out. This was probably the prudent political answer, but I didn’t find it very comforting. In fact the more I hear about John McCain, the more I am nervous about this man as commander in chief. In some ways, he is more zealous than George W. Bush. Bush’s religion is evangelical, but McCain worships at the altar of the military.

Does anyone seriously thinking that attacking Iran, while Iraq and Afghanistan are in shambles is a good idea? Remember that Iran is at least a decade away from producing weapons, but yet, McCain is still willing to leave the military option out there.

Shouldn’t the nation be trying to win the wars that it’s already involved in instead of starting new ones? I don’t see how McCain is ever going to win this election by promising the American people more of something that they already don’t want. I realize that the GOP had to nominate someone, but John McCain seems like he would plunge this nation farther down the dark path that George W. Bush started us on.

America needs hope more than war. If we give up our liberties and continue to fight unnecessary wars out of fear, then the terrorists have already won, because they will have made us change who we are as a nation.

Read the whole interview:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/129661

Technorati Tags: Politics 2008 election John McCain Iran war