Fuck John McCain—A Mass Murdering, Imperialist War Criminal—And Fuck the System He Served!

August 27, 2018 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Honor John McCain? Mourn his passing? Are you fucking kidding??

McCain, a longtime Republican senator, is being hailed by this system’s mouthpieces—including the Democrats and, yes, the “democratic socialists”—as a “war hero” and a man of “integrity.”

BULLSHIT! John McCain was a mass murdering, imperialist war criminal—through and through!

Mass Murder and War Crimes in Vietnam

McCain began his adult life by raining death on and carrying out towering war crimes against the Vietnamese people as part of U.S. imperialism’s illegitimate war of aggression.

McCain flew an A-4E Skyhawk warplane in the 1965-68 bombing campaign against North Vietnam called “Rolling Thunder,” in which over 30,000 civilians were killed. In October 1967, the Vietnamese righteously shot his sorry ass out of the sky and took him prisoner (even saving his life) after he had bombed a civilian power plant in Hanoi—a war crime.

McCain was a gung ho soldier in a war of war crimes. From 1965-1975, the U.S. burned children alive, dropping over 380,000 tons of napalm, massacred whole villages, poisoned Vietnam’s lush landscape with 20 million gallons of the toxic defoliant “Agent Orange,” and ended up murdering some three million people—and still got their asses handed to them by the Vietnamese people! (See “American Crime Case #96: Vietnam, March 16, 1968—The My Lai Massacre.”)

Did McCain see the error of his ways after war crimes like the My Lai massacre were exposed and the war’s toll was documented? Hell no! He gloried in America’s atrocities and used his five-year imprisonment to vault to national prominence, while the system used it to turn reality on its head—portraying Americans as the war’s victims—not the three million Vietnamese they massacred.¹

In 2000, McCain refused to apologize for calling Vietnamese the racist slur “gooks”: “I hate the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live,” he declared. (A week later, after intense criticism and with California’s presidential primary coming up, he apologized.)

McCain: From War Crimes in Vietnam to War Crimes World Wide

John McCain’s war crimes in Vietnam were a prelude to even greater war crimes to come.

After being elected to Congress in the 1980s, McCain rose to become one of the most powerful leaders in the Senate and the Republican Party, and after 9/11, a leading ruling class voice on global imperialist strategy. In this he was hailed for his “bipartisan” approach to putting the “greater interests” of America’s bloody empire of exploitation and oppression, and its global domination first.

In a nutshell, McCain never met a country he didn’t want to bomb. Afghanistan? Iraq? Iran? Libya? Syria? Yemen? You name it.

In the 1980s, McCain supported the murderous, right-wing Contras and the overthrow of the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. He fully backed the 1991 Persian Gulf War and subsequent decade of sanctions on Iraq that ended up killing over 500,000 children.

The day after the attacks of September 11, 2001, he called for war on Afghanistan and more: “[W]e’re talking about Syria, Iraq, Iran, perhaps North Korea, Libya and others.” A month later he helped lead the charge to prepare for war on Iraq.

In Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan alone, a staggering 1.3 million people were killed in the first decade of the so-called “war on terror” that McCain championed, voted for, and helped launch, according to a 2015 report by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War-Germay, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Physicians for Global Survival. (Body Count: Casualty Figures after 10 Years of the ‘War on Terror)

Did McCain regret any of this? Hell no! He pushed for staying in Iraq and attacking Iran—even making a joke out of bombing Iran in 2007 when he was running for president, singing: “Bomb, Bomb, Bomb; Bomb, Bomb Iran” to the tune of the Beach Boys’ “Barbara Ann.”

And as this old war criminal was dying, he was still supporting towering war crimes—this time the U.S.-backed Saudi war of mass murder, mass starvation, and mass disease in Yemen.

White Supremacy, Torture, and Collaborating with Fascism

Of late, McCain has been portrayed as an enlightened champion of truth and justice because of his clash with Trump. But don’t let these sharp differences among imperialist predators fool you: John McCain was a stone reactionary, white supremacist, environment destroyer, and fascist-enabler.

McCain wasn’t just racist toward Vietnamese. He initially opposed making MLK day a holiday. In 2000, he fought to keep the Confederate battle flag flying in South Carolina, calling this symbol of slavery and oppression a “symbol of heritage.” And he stuck with the Republican Party as it pursued its racist “Southern strategy” in election after election and moved further and further right toward outright fascism.

McCain is portrayed as a big opponent of torture, but when it really counted, McCain cut a backroom deal with the Bush regime that allowed it to keep right on torturing.

The environment? This so-called “man of principal” said a few words about the threat of global warming, but then in 2008 campaigned on the “Drill, Baby, Drill!” platform of essentially throwing gasoline on the climate catastrophe.

And despite their differences, McCain supported much of the Trump/Pence regime’s agenda.

What Kind of System Mourns and Glorifies a John McCain?

What does it say about this system that its rulers—including Obama, MSNBC, and the New York Times—are slobbering over this war criminal who has played a key role in the mass murder of literally millions of people? And what does it say about this putrid system that is turning his death into an occasion to deify the bloody U.S. military and justify more American war and slaughter?

It says, loud and clear, that this system cannot be reformed, it must be overthrown!

So America’s rulers can have this mass murdering motherfucker. He’s one of theirs. They belong together.

So John McCain, FUCK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.

 

1. In a lengthy August 26 obituary, the New York Times goes on and on about McCain’s alleged mistreatment by the Vietnamese, while devoting not one word to the atrocities McCain helped carry out. [back]

 

John McCain in 2008

What kind of monster makes a JOKE out of bombing Iran, which would mean the slaughter of millions?

And what kind of monstrous system turns someone like this into an "American Hero"?

A system that needs to be overthrown!#FuckJohnMcCain #AmericaWasNeverGreat pic.twitter.com/MiE1DynfQ9

— revcom.us/Revolution (@tuneintorevcom) August 26, 2018

John McCain making a joke out of bombing Iran in 2007 when he was running for president, singing: “Bomb, Bomb, Bomb; Bomb, Bomb Iran” to the tune of the Beachboy’s “Barbara Ann.”