McCain makes pointed error on foreign affairs
It's bizarre that a man who has made the Iraq war such a centre piece of his entire campaign should publicly show himself to be so ignorant of what is actually taking place in that country.
Thankfully for McCain, Super Joe was on the sidelines to counsel him.Republican presidential nominee John McCain today alleged that al-Qaida in Iraq is being aided by Iran, an error that threatens to undermine his claim to be the most experienced foreign policy expert in the race.
Speaking to reporters in Amman, Jordan, the Arizona senator said several times that Iran, a predominantly Shia country, has been training and supplying al-Qaida, the Sunni Islamist terrorist organisation, the Washington Post reported.
Questioned by reporters, McCain continued, adding that it is "common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaida is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate."
To be fair to McCain, this muddying of the waters regarding who exactly the US is fighting in Iraq has been the standard fare of Bush and Cheney for quite some time. Saddam remnants, insurgents, extremists, al Qaeda; the terms have been interchangeable for years now depending on which Republican talking point one was defending. Because with the exception of al Qaeda, the real common denominator amongst the people that the US face in Iraq is that they are mostly Iraqis. And all of these terms are simply a way of avoiding that truth. For to acknowledge that, is to acknowledge that the US have not been greeted as "liberators".Then, Senator Joseph Lieberman, who, like McCain is a staunch supporter of the war in Iraq, stepped forward and whispered in McCain's ear.
McCain then said, "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaida," the Washington Post reported.
McCain has also been beating a well known Republican drum which places all of it's failings in Iraq at the door of Iran. The only mistake he has made is to specify al Qaeda rather than to stick to the generic term "extremists".
But the fact that he has tripped himself up so publicly, simply shows how vapid are the many arguments that right wingers put forward for why the war must continue.
They don't have a real argument, they have slogans. They come out with nonsense like, "We fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here". Which is patent garbage, implying that Iraqis are longing to invade the US and reek havoc. When the truth is that they simply want the US to leave Iraq.
Some Democrats have leapt on McCain's slip up as proof that he is unfit to be President, which I find slightly unfair.
His support for the war, his ability to constantly see victory as just over the next hill, is enough to prove that he is not fit to be President. One can hardly blame him for failing to keep up with the myriad of culprits that Bush and Cheney have cited as mitigation for their own calamitous failure.
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4 comments:
NICE Blog :)
Thank you!
Anybody who doesn't think that McCain knows exactly what's going on over there hasn't been paying attention It was a simple slip of the tongue and nothing more. McCain may be more up to speed on foreign affairs and the war than any sitting Senator. I think there are just a few bomb throwers who are hoping to turn attention away from Obama's suddenly floundering campaign.
It was a simple slip of the tongue and nothing more.
Well, his tongue slipped more than once. He made the same point several times before Lieberman corrected him.
But, as I said in the post, one can hardly blame him. Terms like insurgent, terrorist and al Qaeda have become interchangeable in Cheney and Bush's lexicon.
The only thing they won't call them is what they actually are: Iraqis.
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