The US must start showing signs of success in Iraq, or risk losing support from people at home and other world nations that joined the fight, US Senator John McCain said in a speech laying out his suggestions for how to win the war.
Despite the Bush administration's efforts to get other countries, particularly NATO allies, to offer more help in Iraq, McCain said, the US likely will not be able to rely on that unless it can show clear progress toward stabilizing and rebuilding Iraq.
"Iraq is for us to do, for us to win or lose, for us to suffer the consequences or share in the benefits," the Republican said in a speech on Thursday at the American Enterprise Institute.
A possible candidate for president in 2008, McCain made his suggestions as many in the US and the world are questioning the future of the mission in Iraq. Last month, US deaths in the conflict exceeded 2,000, and the war has grown increasingly unpopular at home.
Some critics, including Cindy Sheehan, a California woman who camped outside US President George W. Bush's Texas ranch after her son was killed in Iraq, have called for the US to pull troops out.
McCain said that to win, the US must increase ground forces and enlarge the military. A proposal by former Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry to draw down 20,000 US troops by the end of the year represents "a major step on the road to disaster," he said.
On Thursday, Kerry said he had suggested gradually withdrawing troops over a 12 to 15 month period tied to specific benchmarks and pursuing a political settlement with the goal of undermining the insurgency, which he said feeds on the notion that the US is occupying Iraq.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
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