McCain "al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training"

[sabra]

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/03/18/a_mccain_gaffe_in_jordan_1.html

AMMAN, Jordan -- Sen. John McCain, traveling in the Middle East to promote his foreign policy expertise, misidentified in remarks Tuesday which broad category of Iraqi extremists are allegedly receiving support from Iran.

He said several times that Iran, a predominately Shiite country, was supplying the mostly Sunni militant group, al-Qaeda. In fact, officials have said they believe Iran is helping Shiite extremists in Iraq.

Speaking to reporters in Amman, the Jordanian capital, McCain said he and two Senate colleagues traveling with him continue to be concerned about Iranian operatives "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back."

Pressed to elaborate, McCain said it was "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 Lieberman, standing just behind McCain, stepped forward and whispered in the presidential candidate's ear. McCain then said: "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda."

The mistake threatened to undermine McCain's argument that his decades of foreign policy experience make him the natural choice to lead a country at war with terrorists. In recent days, McCain has repeatedly said his intimate knowledge of foreign policy make him the best equipped to answer a phone ringing in the White House late at night.

[Solly Mack]

1. I suppose he's going to "surround himself with smart people" too?LMAO

[AndyA]

2. I guess we should all be scared now.

Just like we should have when we were told that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11.

And when we were told he had WMDs that he was planning to use against us.

And when Powell showed images of the WMDs to the United Nations.

Oh...wait...those were all lies.

:eyes:

[acmavm]

3. Damn McCain should be in an Old Croak's Home, NOT ON

the campaign trail.

[Hydra]

4. The Iran and Venezuela drum banging

Is getting REALLY tedious.

[gatorboy]

5. Why would they do that?

Iran has been at war with Sunni for how long? If anything, they want them out of Iraq, correct?

It infuriates me that Bush and Co. are constantly trying to set up an Iranian connection yet conveniently ignore Saudi Arabia where our troubles truly began (And that goes for the rest of you Right Wing "Patriots" lurking here. Grow some guts already) .

[bdamomma]

6. death and destruction is all the neo cons have to peddle.

the time for death and destruction should be over, and they should be over.

[rox63]

7. Al-Qaeda is a primarily Sunni organization, and Iran is a primarily Shiite country

What about this doesn't compute? :eyes:

[kineneb]

13. Al-Qaeda leadership is mostly Wahabi- they hate the Shiia

sort of like Catholics vs. Protestants in the 30 Years War.

[quadriga]

14. It actually works for Americans.

It's the same way when you tell Americans that Iranians aren't Arabs. They get that tilted head, glazed look like your dog does when it hears a high pitched sound. Sunnis, Shi'ites who gives a fuck? They are brown people that we can bomb!!! And the slightest provaction on their part makes them bomb worthy whether it's the truth or not. hell, Americans have come to prefer the lie.

[gatorboy]

15. There's a few guys from Tehran that are members of a penciler board I frequent.

If there's one thing that really pisses them off it's calling them Arab (And believe me, many do.)

[NickB79]

16. They're all brown-skinned, gibberish-talking A-Rabs, of course

See the connection? :sarcasm:

[bdamomma]

17. Iran and Iraq both do not care for Al Qaeda.

[IronLionZion]

19. Anyone who can't understand that is simply too incompetent to lead. nt

[liberal N proud]

8. How do we stop these fear mongering lies?

All this asshole wants to do is fill America with fear in hopes they will vote for him to protect them from the bogey man

[pegleg]

9. We seem to be forgeting just how wrong the Bush Admin was

wrong on their Iraqi intelligence. That lesson needs to be applied here to

[bdamomma]

18. again, it is all about the oil.

this is cheney's wetdream.

[Supersedeas]

10. another one for the cable media to ignore - McBush & Iran/al-Caca connection

[mmonk]

11. Ridiculous but the radical right will believe it.

I believe Bin Laden called the Iranians "Shia dogs".

[lunatica]

12. So now we're training Al Qaeda?

Because that's exactly what's going on. They're in Iraq because we invaded and we're training them better than all the training they can get anywhere else.

McCain is right.

:shrug:

The truth has a way of squirting out, even if only covered in the hypocritical slime of unintended irony

[Strelnikov_]

20. "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda."

Another ready made campaign commercial.

[bushmeister0]

21. He can't keep the bullshit straight.

They just make this shit up as they go along anyway, today Iran may not be supplying AQI, but tomorrow . . . who knows? At one point, Saddam's agents were meeting with Mohammed Atta and the media bought it, if they keep saying Iran is arming AQI enough times, the media will start pusing that line too.

This is a perfect example of the mushiness of facts when you're creating them:

"the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda."

Al-Qaeda are extremeists, right?

So is he talking about Shittes? But they run the Iraqi government, yet they're extrememists but . . . my brain hurts.

Oh, what the hell: bomb, bomb, bomb. Bomb, bomb Iran.

[chat_noir]

22. CBS Video up at YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6GBdyws5YU


:eyes: :eyes:

[Fireweed247]

23. AlCIAda is US Government created BS

From Mike at WRH:

"Ana raicha Al Qaeda" is colloquial for "I'm going to the toilet". A very common and widespread use of the word "Al-Qaeda" in different Arab countries in the public language is for the toilet bowl. This name comes from the Arabic verb "Qa'ada" which mean "to sit", pertinently, on the "Toilet Bowl". In most Arabs homes there are two kinds of toilets: "Al-Qaeda" also called the "Hamam Franji" or foreign toilet, and "Hamam Arabi" or "Arab toilet" which is a hole in the ground. Lest we forget it, the potty used by small children is called "Ma Qa'adia" or "Little Qaeda".

So, if you were forming a terrorist group, would you call yourself, "The Toilet"?

[xxqqqzme]

24. mccain is slurping that neo-con kool-aid

and much of it is dribbling off his chin. This fear shit is really getting old. Is is especially transparent when the chief fear monger wannabe can't tell the players w/o a script.

[crimsonblue]

25. The sad part is...

that the media will print McCain's words as fact. So get used to it, it is now an official fact that Iran is training Al Qaeda... get ready for another war... and maybe a reinstitution of the draft.

[NewJeffCT]

26. Gerald Ford lost an election because he said there was no Soviet domination of eastern Europe

This is almost as bad, IMO.

[kitty1]

27. And this guy wants to rule the free world.....

It'll be Armageddon time if they get this guy gets at the switch.
He should be off somewhere shooting pheasants. Not making life and death decisions possibly