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November 16, 2004
Despite mistakes, McCain supports U.S. role in Iraq
Benjamin Buettner
Mesa Legend
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| Sen. John McCain reacted to student questions regarding three issues during his visit: water conservation, immigration, and Iraq. |
Senator John McCain visited MCC Oct. 27 to address students with three particular issues on his mind: water, immigration and Iraq. Sen. McCain talked about those issues and reacted to the student’s questions in MCC’s Navajo Room.
Sen. McCain first addressed the water issue saying that he believes in climate control and the only question is how severe it is. He believes that Arizona must start conserving water now, to counteract the lack of snow in the Rockies, which reduces the amount of water coming down the Colorado River. McCain pointed out that Lake Powell is less than 40 percent full. The Senator also noted that one way to help conserve water would be to change toilet water capacities from 5 gallons to 1.5 gallons. Also, making our farmers understand to “not grow the most water intensive crops.”
Sen. McCain also discussed immigration and how he opposed Proposition 200. McCain compared illegal immigration to the war on drugs. The Senator said that the war on drugs was ineffective saying that “the price of an ounce of cocaine in Phoenix is less than it was 15 years ago. As long as there is a demand, there is going to be a supply. As long as there is a demand for workers to do jobs that Americans won’t do, then there is going to be a supply of workers who will come, particularly when they can’t feed themselves and their families, where they are. You have to have comprehensive immigration reform. We haven’t addressed the fundamental problem. We need a system where people can come to this country and do jobs that Americans will not do.” McCain then asked the crowd if there was anybody who wants to go pick lettuce in Yuma that week. “So we have to allow them to do those jobs and come back to the country from which they came,” the Senator explained.
The Senator also pointed out that between eight and fifteen million people are in this country illegally, and the problem is that their children will automatically be U.S. citizens. McCain begged the question of what to do with eight to fifteen million illegal immigrants. “Do you award them with amnesty? We tried that in the eighties, it didn’t work. Do you round them all up and throw them back across the border? I don’t think so, I don’t think so,” he repeated. “We need to not reward those who come here illegally, they should go to the end of the line (to get citizenship), and should not be able to seek citizenship for about three years.”
The third issue that Sen. McCain covered encapsulated mistakes the Bush administration made confronting the world on the Iraq situation and whether or not America did the right thing. “Never again should the secretary of state stand in front of the United Nations security council and say that we knew certain things about him (Hussein), having weapons of mass destruction and it not being true. Never again should we have the President of the United States make statements at the State of the Union message that are not true.”
McCain touched on the problems causing the United States to confront Iraq after 9/11. McCain explained that the sanctions that Saddam Hussein agreed to after the “incredibly successful” initial Persian Gulf War were deteriorating and “status quo, was not a status quo.” McCain explained that Iraq drove weapons inspectors out of Iraq and that that was an agreed sanction, as well as firing upon U.S. airplanes in fly zones, that were also agreed to in the initial sanctions.
McCain also added that “the oil program was being abused dramatically and in the next year or two, you’ll find out how this (oil) money was actually used.”
According to McCain, America did the right thing. “Did we make mistakes? Absolutely, we made mistakes. We allowed looting. We didn’t estimate how many troops were going to be required there. We allowed the situation to deteriorate for which we have paid a very heavy price in American blood and treasure. Do I think we did the right thing? Of course we did the right thing.”
McCain emphasized how America hasn’t won the Iraq dispute and how the United States has to finish what was started.
“We can’t wait to fight the terrorists when they come across our borders, we have to fight them where they are,” McCain urged.
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