In October 2002 McCain again rose to back the Bush administration when it sought congressional approval for a resolution to use force if necessary to disarm Iraq. The Iraqi tyrant, McCain repeatedly warned his colleagues, was "a clear and present danger" to U.S. security.
"He has developed stocks of germs and toxins in sufficient quantities to kill the entire population of the Earth multiple times," McCain said, according to the Congressional Record. "He has placed weapons laden with these poisons on alert to fire at his neighbors within minutes, not hours, and has devolved authority to fire them to subordinates. He develops nuclear weapons with which he would hold his neighbors and us hostage."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, March 27, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 65 words Type of Material: Correction
McCain on Iraq: An article in Sunday's Section A about Republican Sen. John McCain's positions on the Iraq war said investigations, including the 9/11 Commission Report and a report this month financed by the Pentagon, found no evidence of a "collaborative relationship" between Al Qaeda and the Iraqi regime. The commission report said there was no evidence of a "collaborative operational relationship" between the two.
Like all but a few members of Congress, McCain read only the summary of the National Intelligence Estimate sent to Congress that month, according to longtime aide Mark Salter. Asked why, Salter said in an e-mail that the summary was "pretty informative."
The summary, which was later declassified, warned with "high confidence" that Saddam was building a fierce array of illicit weapons. But CIA officials say the full classified text contained numerous caveats about the intelligence.
In fact, none of the weapons existed. After the invasion, the CIA-led Iraq Survey Group concluded that Hussein had abandoned or destroyed his chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs after the Persian Gulf War in 1991, a dozen years earlier.
When the invasion began, McCain told MSNBC that he had "no doubt" U.S. forces "will be welcomed as liberators" in Baghdad. But he changed his views after his first visit to Baghdad, in August 2003, as the insurgency was beginning.
Returning home, McCain began calling for the deployment of thousands more troops. The policy set him sharply at odds with the White House, his party and military commanders. Virtually alone in Congress, McCain pushed for a larger force with growing urgency over the next 3 1/2 years as casualties mounted and public support plummeted.
The Bush administration finally agreed to send nearly 30,000 additional troops early last year, bringing the current total to about 155,000. The so-called surge has helped curb both the sectarian slaughter and anti-U.S. attacks, according to the Pentagon.
"I give the guy a lot of credit on this issue," said Kenneth Pollack, who headed Persian Gulf affairs in the Clinton White House and now works at the nonpartisan Brookings Institution in Washington. "He figured out the right answer. And the administration was dead set against it."
