In a recent Statesman interview, a close POW friend of John McCain concluded that he "would be comfortable with McCain as commander-in-chief." Other former POWs have publicly stated that they would not. For most veterans, the issue has never been about his record as a POW, however—it is about his politics. When he skipped close to a dozen votes on Iraq, and on at least another 10 occasions, voted against arming and equipping the troops, providing adequate rest for the troops between deployments and for health care or other benefits for veterans, we saw that his politics had trumped his honor.
When Congress voted overwhelmingly to condemn and end the torture regime of Bush-Cheney and McCain sided with Bush, allowing the CIA to use techniques as bad, and worse, than the torture inflicted on him in Vietnam, and gave war criminals retroactive immunity against prosecution, we saw that he was more influenced by his politics than his experience.
When one of our main concerns is national security and he selected for vice president a person who knows nothing about it as his replacement because she polled well with the extremist base of his party, we saw his erratic behavior.
John McCain has demonstrated that he would rather lose his integrity than lose this election. It is little wonder that a huge number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are supporting Barack Obama and donations from deployed troops favor Obama by six to one.
Barack Obama should be our next president. The alternative is now unthinkable, and McCain—no one else—has proved it.
Chuck Davis
Boise
