A press release from McCain HQ:
ARLINGTON, VA — Today, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. Army (Ret.) issued the following statement endorsing John McCain for President of the United States:
“Senator John McCain has served our country with honor in war and in peace. He has demonstrated the type of courageous leadership our country sorely needs at this time. For that reason, he has my complete support.”
A January 28, 2003 article from The Washington Post:
TAMPA — Norman Schwarzkopf wants to give peace a chance.
The general who commanded U.S. forces in the 1991 Gulf War says he hasn’t seen enough evidence to convince him that his old comrades Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and Paul Wolfowitz are correct in moving toward a new war now. He thinks U.N. inspections are still the proper course to follow. He’s worried about the cockiness of the U.S. war plan, and even more by the potential human and financial costs of occupying Iraq….
In fact, the hero of the last Gulf War sounds surprisingly like the man on the street when he discusses his ambivalence about the Bush administration’s hawkish stance on ousting Saddam Hussein. He worries about the Iraqi leader, but would like to see some persuasive evidence of Iraq’s alleged weapons programs.
“The thought of Saddam Hussein with a sophisticated nuclear capability is a frightening thought, okay?” he says. “Now, having said that, I don’t know what intelligence the U.S. government has. And before I can just stand up and say, ‘Beyond a shadow of a doubt, we need to invade Iraq,’ I guess I would like to have better information.”
He hasn’t seen that yet, and so — in sharp contrast to the Bush administration — he supports letting the U.N. weapons inspectors drive the timetable.
So while McCain was fiercely championing the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Schwarzkopf was prudently (and presciently) warning against the endeavor. Nevertheless—water under the bridge and all that—Schwarzkopf now claims McCain possesses the right judgment to be commander-in-chief. The two have obviously agreed to disagree on that little matter of the Iraq War.
