McCain's Militarism

The Independent here reminds Americans of the myth and militarism of John McCain.

There are personal charges in the article, of the sins-of-the-father nature, of violence in personality. They are fair play when you aim for the presidency, and when the United States is trying to recover a self-destructive period of military adventurism in the name of ...what was it again?

McCain has mostly opposed using U.S. power for humanitarian goals, jeering at proposals to intervene in Rwanda or Bosnia -- but he is very keen to use it for great power imperialism. He learned this philosophy from his father and his granddad Slew, who fought in the Philippine wars at the turn of the 20th century, where he was part of a mission to crush the local resistance to the U.S. invasion. They did it by forcing the entire population from their homes at gunpoint into "protection zones," and gunning down anybody over the age of 10 who was found outside them. Today, McCain dreamily describes this as "an exotic adventure" which his grandfather "generally enjoyed."....*

(In the Domincan Republic) John McCain Sr. intervened to ensure the supporters of the democratic government were crushed, bragging that it taught the natives "how to behave themselves." He saw this as part of a wider mission, where the U.S. would take over Britain's role as a "world empire."

These beliefs drive McCain today. He brags he would be happy for U.S. troops to remain in Iraq for 100 years, and declares: "I'm not at all embarrassed of my friendship with Henry Kissinger; I'm proud of it." His most thorough biographer -- and recent supporter -- Matt Welch concludes: "McCain's program for fighting foreign wars would be the most openly militaristic and interventionist platform in the White House since Teddy Roosevelt...[it] is considerably more hawkish than anything George Bush has ever practiced." With him as president, we could expect much more aggressive destabilization of Venezuela and Bolivia -- and more.

*I would refer the Senator to Mark Twain's Comments on the Killing of 600 Moros.

UPDATE, From TPM:

"And I gotta give you some straight talk, my friends. It's a tough war we're in. It's not gonna be over right away," McCain said. "There's gonna be other wars. I'm sorry to tell you, there's gonna be other wars. We will never surrender, but there will be other wars.

Wars plural. Repeated three times. And he's pledged to serve only 4 years? So that's two more wars, minimum? Or are they for later presidents?

How many wars exactly are we not going to be surrendering in? Just a ballpark would help.