Senator John McCain Calls NICoE "Incredible," and Addresses U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan

A few years ago, Senator John McCain of Arizona invited Imus, Charles and Bernard to visit the Walter Reed Army Medical Center with him, and Imus described it as “an experience I’ll never forget in my lifetime.”

It was therefore appropriate that McCain, a Republican, joined Imus today to celebrate the opening of the brand new, state-of-the-art National Intrepid Center of Excellence in Bethesda, Maryland, which was built solely with money donated by the public.

“It’s a wonderful example of what America is all about, and certainly there’s a need,” said McCain, a veteran himself. He noted the rising number of suicides among members of the Armed Forces and the bumpy road ahead, particularly in Afghanistan.

“It’s going to get tough in the next couple of months as we move into Kandahar,” said McCain. “So this is needed more than ever, this kind of help and assistance.”

This push into Kandahar will come on the heels of General Stanley McChrystal’s resignation. The now former Commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan resigned yesterday after disrespectful statements he made about President Obama and other civilian leaders were printed in a Rolling Stone Magazine article.

“I’m glad that General Petraeus is going to be there,” said McCain, referring to McChrystal’s very capable replacement. “But I’m deeply concerned about the President’s continued adherence to a ‘date certain’ that we’re going to leave, no matter what the conditions on the ground are.”

Petraeus has said he will judge a potential withdrawal from Afghanistan based on the situation on the ground regardless of Obama’s plans, but McCain was skeptical and expressed concern about the message this sends to the enemy.

“The enemy accommodates, and their friends accommodate, if they think we’re not going to be there,” he pointed out.

Besides, he added, President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Clinton, and National Security Advisor Jim Jones were all wrong about Iraq. “They said the surge wouldn’t work, and they said we were doomed to failure,” said McCain.

He believes in the counterinsurgency plan currently in place—clear, hold, rebuild—but emphasized the importance of getting “the right civilian team in there,” and of understanding that Afghanistan is not Iraq.

“They’re dramatically different,” said McCain, adding that Iraq was “far worse than Afghanistan is today” when the U.S. first implemented the surge there.

A representative of Arizona, McCain called the Obama administration’s lawsuit against his state’s immigration law “ludicrous,” because it’s the federal government’s fault that Arizona had to pass the law in the first place.

“Our border’s insecure, and they didn’t carry out their responsibility,” he charged.

Up for reelection in Novemeber, McCain, who ran against Obama for President in 2008, feels confident he’ll win, but remembers what it felt like to lose.

“I slept like a baby,” he recalled. “Sleep two hours, wake up and cry. Sleep two hours, wake up and cry.”

-Julie Kanfer