These are staggering times. After five years of needless and illegal war in Iraq, with all its horrible consequences in terms of human life, the Republican candidate for president, Sen. John McCain, said Wednesday that he would not rule out a pre-emptive war against another country.

And did I not hear him say just a short time ago that he wouldn’t allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons?

Pardon me, but the very fact that such statements could come out of the mouth of the Republican candidate for president, is staggering. Can there be any question in the world that McCain is going to continue the war no matter how long it takes or where it leads, even if it leads us into a pre-emptive war with Iran?

One would think that such statements would cause every nation in the world to be a little nervous and anxious, especially any nation that we might decide is in need of a regime change, and is too weak to defend herself. They know who they are. But even the powerful nations too, like China and Russia and North Korea, would be smart enough to start pumping more money into their defense departments on hearing such statements. Even our good friends would be smart to increase their military budgets.

How much plainer could McCain make it? Elect him and there’s going to be some taking names and kicking of you know what. Talk about your 3 a.m. call. What if he were awakened by false intelligence that Iran would have a nuclear weapon by the end of the week? Could there be any question as to what his answer would be?

McCain was asked point-blank at a town hall type of gathering at Westport, Conn., if he would reject the “Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war.”

“I don’t think you could make a blanket statement about pre-emptive war, because obviously, it depends on the threat that the United States of America faces,” he said to an audience at a global investment firm.

The Iraq war was a pre-emptive war, an illegal war and an immoral war. McCain has been for this pre-emptive war from the beginning and he has said that we should stay there until victory is won. That means that McCain still thinks that Iraq was a justifiable threat and a perfect target for a pre-emptive war.

He believes we should stay there and keep pushing on to victory. He has made it perfectly plain that America will pull a pre-emptive on Iran if that is what it takes to keep them from having a nuclear weapon. Sounds like a plan.

Sounds like a continuation of the original neo-con blue print for taking over the world, one bad nation at a time, until America is king of the mountain and at the top of the heap, with the rest of the world bowing at her feet.

It’s staggering that the original plan is still playing out. All they need is for McCain to get elected president and they haven’t missed a beat on the road to world domination and the spreading of democracy around the earth, by force of arms and whatever other cruelties might be necessary.

And, of course, what is even more staggering is that people like McCain and Bush and Cheney actually believe with all their heart and mind that world dominion is the only way to go if we’re ever to bring peace and prosperity to the world.

What could be more staggering? About half of America is in full agreement with McCain and the Bush-Cheney doctrine of pre-emptive war for the sake of the Lord, in defense of our national interests and to protect our freedoms. That’s more staggering.

With all that staggering, I don’t see how America can keep from hitting the canvas if McCain is elected president. That would be beyond staggering. That would be a knockout.

My money, however, is on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and that other half of the American people who are just a little bit too wise than to believe that we’ve been headed in the right direction all these years and that McCain would be the perfect one to lead us on.

McCain would lead us on in the tradition of Bush and Cheney and the Pentagon and all those other members of the military-industrial complex and the giant corporations that have made America what it’s become under the reign of Bush and Cheney.

Will we continue to be a warmongering nation or will we change our national mind-set regarding war and turn to peaceful and thoughtful methods of getting along in the world? Will we reject pre-emptive war? Will we stop using war as a means of getting our way in the world?

And they say it’s going to be a close bout. That’s staggering.

Naman Crowe, a Vietnam veteran, began his award-winning journalism career in 1971. He has written for numerous publications. He can be reached at namancrowe@yahoo.com.