The McCain Myth

Almost everyone knows about Republican presidential candidate John McCain's courage in the face of torture in Vietnam, his present stand against all torture and his apology for denying global warming. But probably very few know his other side. Here are a few points about that, gleaned from a Jan. 24 article in The Independent (UK), entitled The Myth of John McCain.

* McCain has written about his youth: "At the smallest provocation I would go off into a mad frenzy, and then suddenly crash to the floor unconscious. When I got angry I held my breath until I blacked out."

* He still defends the Vietnam war--which killed three million Vietnamese--as "noble" and "winnable."

* He says North Korea should be threatened with "extinction."

* He says he would be happy for US troops to remain in Iraq for 100 years.

Finally, one has to ask how much he has been influenced by his forebears:

* His grandfather Slew was part of a mission in the Philippine wars 100 years ago to force the population from their homes at gunpoint into protection zones and shoot those who were found outside the zones.

* His father John led the US invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965 to ensure that the forces loyal to Juan Bosch were crushed.( Bosch was the democratically elected president who was committed to land redistribution and helping the poor.)