McCain Mixes Up Iraqi Groups

Washington Post: While In Jordan, Senator Misstates Which Extremists Are Aided by Iran

(Washingtonpost.com)  This story was written by Cameron W. Barr and Michael D. Shear.

---

Sen. John McCain, in the midst of a trip to the Middle East that he hoped would help burnish his foreign policy expertise, incorrectly asserted Tuesday that Iran is training and supplying al-Qaeda in Iraq, confusing the Sunni insurgent group with the Shiite extremists who U.S. officials believe are supported by their religious brethren in the neighboring country.

The mistake, which he quickly corrected after a brief whisper from a colleague, was an unwelcome stumble as McCain (Ariz.), the all-but-certain Republican nominee for the White House, spends seven days in the Middle East and Europe.(Watch the video.)

His campaign asserts that McCain's decades of foreign policy experience make him the candidate best equipped to lead the country in a time of international peril, and he has staked his bid in particular on his deep knowledge of the military and political situation in Iraq, frequently mocking his Democratic rivals for what he describes as a naive desire to pull troops out quickly. He is spending two days in Israel after 48 hours in Iraq, where he met with top Iraqi officials and U.S. military officers to assess progress there.

Standing with two of his Senate colleagues at the Citadel, a set of ancient ruins in downtown Amman, McCain told reporters that he is concerned about Iran's influence in Iraq and cited a recently discovered cache of weapons that he said could be particularly lethal in being used to target Americans in the country.

"We continue to be concerned about Iranian [operatives] taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back," he said in comments after meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday afternoon.

Pressed to elaborate, McCain said it is "common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran; that's well known. And it's unfortunate."

A few moments later, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), standing just behind McCain, stepped forward and whispered in his ear. McCain then said, "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda."

The United States has long asserted that elements of Iran's security forces have been training and supplying weapons to Iraq's Shiite militias. Iran is an overwhelmingly Shiite country whose government has applauded the emergence of a Shiite-led government in Iraq but has denied supporting Shiite militias inside Iraq.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq is a predominantly Sunni militant group that has been blamed for deadly mass killings of Shiites and attacks on U.S. forces. Some Sunni extremists consider Shiites to be heretics and therefore legitimate targets of attack. The schism between Islam's Sunni and Shiite sects grw out of a dispute over the leadership of the faithful after the death of the prophet Muhammad in A.D. 632.

Democrats pointed out that McCain made the same assertion in a radio interview with talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Monday night, saying that "there are al-Qaeda operatives that are taken back into Iran, given training as leaders, and they're moving back into Iraq."

In a statement, Democratic Party spokeswoman Karen Finney seized on the mistakes.

"After eight years of the Bush Administration's incompetence in Iraq, McCain's comments don't give the American people a reason to believe that he can be trusted to offer a clear way forward," she said. "Not only is Senator McCain wrong on Iraq once again, but he showed he either doesn't understand the challenges facing Iraq and the region or is willing to ignore the facts on the ground."

A spokesman for McCain's campaign accused the Democrats of launching unwarranted political attacks.

"In a press conference today, John McCain misspoke and immediately corrected himself by stating that Iran is in fact supporting radical Islamic extremists in Iraq, not al Qaeda -- as the transcript shows," Brian Rogers said from McCain's Virginia headquarters. "Democrats have launched political attacks today because they know the American people have deep concerns about their candidates' judgment and readiness to lead as commander in chief."

McCain has said repeatedly that he is leading the three-person congressional delegation abroad as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, not as a candidate for president. But he is giving daily interviews to U.S. networks and will hold a campaign fundraiser in London on Thursday. And in both Jordan and Israel, he was mobbed by reporters anxious to hear from him.

His political advisers had said that a side benefit from the trip would be images of McCain standing shoulder-to-shoulder with world leaders and showing his expertise on issues of war, foreign policy and terrorism.

McCain continued that effort after leaving Jordan, meeting Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem before a series of other high-level talks in the city Wednesday. McCain, Lieberman and Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) met with Peres in his residence, at a long table set with cookies, water bottles and a floral centerpiece.

"Could I just say, Mr. President, I'm happy to have the opportunity to see you again. And we've met on many occasions. And I've always appreciated your words of wisdom and guidance," McCain told Peres in a brief exchange for the news media at the beginning of the meeting.

Peres said he admires McCain's "courage and stamina" and said Israel needs a partner in achieving peace with the Palestinians.

"The situation among the Palestinians, they are divided, alas, which makes them weak," Peres said. "And their weakness is our weakness because we [need a] partner."

Shear reported from Jerusalem.

[b-easy63]

Geezus, what happens when he forgets and invades the wrong country?

Posted by RowdyTexan2 at 09:53 AM : Mar 19, 2008


Maybe, he''ll be just as ignorant as Bush and just be one letter off (like mistaking Iraq for Iran) and then maybe the Democrats in Congress will help to vote for invading and destroying the wrong country, because they are too lazy to read the Intel report--just like Hillary Clinton was. LOL

Note: Later, they can just say they did not vote for authorization to war, --but when they gave authorization for the use of force--it really meant "more time for the inspectors" yeah--then we can have a repeat of 2003 all over again. lmao

[leftyintexas]

We already had our quota of morons running our government these past seven years. We don''t need another Doofus carrying on the same ol'' bushit.

[taddles-2009]

"This guy is on the Senate Committee for the Armed Services and he''''s supposed to be all knowledgeable on foreign affairs and then he goes and has to get help from a ex-Democrat/Independent....Liebermann about who is who?

Posted by arlt1627 at 04:24 PM : Mar 19, 2008"


Well put.

This guy is all the Repubs have to offer?!? Three times in two days he makes the same gaff...Alzheimer''s?

[taddles-2009]

"Anyone ever listen to these two clowns?

Posted by sueann702 at 08:50 PM : Mar 19, 2008"


Apparently a lot of the people who post here do.

[taddles-2009]

"Or Huckabee is VP and McCain steps down -- that will keep us up all night worrying about McCain''''''''s health! Can you imagine watching him on T.V.: "Watch it, watch it, oh dear god, don''''''''t let him walk down those stairs unassisted!!!!
Posted by Candide777 at 07:08 PM : Mar 19, 2008"


Wasn''t that the reasoning behind Dan Quayle as Bush I''s running mate? The best defense against assassination is an utterly incompetent VP.

[ioweign]

Most leaders don''''''''t know everything about everything. Instead, they surround themselves with people who do. NO ONE is an expert in economics, foreign policy, etc.

It''s funny how people think Bush just dreams this stuff up on his own. How naive.

Posted by easeup at 01:43 PM : Mar 19, 2008


From the looks of things, you mean he IS getting help messing everything up...


Posted by IOWEIGN at 06:31 AM : Mar 20, 2008

[ioweign]

Most leaders don''''t know everything about everything. Instead, they surround themselves with people who do. NO ONE is an expert in economics, foreign policy, etc.

It''s funny how people think Bush just dreams this stuff up on his own. How naive.

Posted by easeup at 01:43 PM : Mar 19, 2008


From the looks of things, you mean he IS getting help *** everything you...

[greatdrivew]

John McCain has clearly become the disgraced neocons'' new Dark Prince. Caravanting around the Middle East with Cheney and Leiberman while "representing American interets" is enough to scare anyone. It''s no wonder there''s so much turmoil over there.

[samthetvcat]

PS Or worse, perhaps this phony Al-Qaeda/Iran connection might even be to drum up support for expansion of the war into Iran! :o

Psychos!

[samthetvcat]

So apparently he''s done this 3 times now - it''s obviously intentional. Classic Karl Rove to just make up a connection where none exists for political gain. The phony Al-Qaeda Iraq connection was used to justify the invasion; perhaps this phony Al-Qaeda Iran connection is being used to insulate McCain from getting mocked for his ''bomb bomb Iran'' quips.

Something is really off with Karl Rove . . . you know when I look at him talking I sometimes get the willies which makes my women''s intuition wonder what his childhood was like. I think he may be inbred, I really do. I even went to check Wikipedia and there weren''t any admission of inbreeding, but he admits he never knew his real father, and his mother committed suicide. And he had a step-father who left his mom for another man. So all his parental figures have abandoned him.

I just don''t think it''s healthy for the nation to be subjected to his policies . . . there''s just something really toxic about this kind of duplicity in light of the bloodshed that results . . .