In no particular order...
Sen. McCain today once again made clear that even when it comes to foreign policy, he has no idea what he is talking about:
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."
I'll let Hilzoy take this one:
It's important to be clear about exactly how clueless this is. It's like saying that some neo-confederate group is secretly funneling money to Louis Farrakhan, and then having an aide have to whisper: no, no, it's the Aryan Nation; wrong extremists! It's like suggesting that McCain is making a play for Kucinich voters, and having to be told that, no, you really meant Ron Paul: wrong losing candidate! No one who had any understanding at all of Iraq, or for that matter about the Shi'a/Sunni split and which side Iran was on, would get confused about this, any more than someone with any knowledge of US politics would get confused about whether neo-confederates were likely to be supporting blacks, or conservatives were likely to be supporting the Socialist Workers' Party. It is exactly that clueless.
Anyone who thinks McCain can beat Obama in the fall just is not paying attention. The myth of McCain as a foreign policy guru is just that: a myth. Were this 9/12, I could understand the mistake. But six years out? Something this basic? Sunni extremists and Shia extremists aren't going to train one another. That's so blindingly stupid it makes my head hurt.
Meanwhile, VP Cheney was at it again, too. A short excerpt from a speech to U.S. troops at the Balad Air Force Base in Iraq:
And across this country, the more that Iraqis have gotten to know Americans -- the nature of our intentions, and the character of our soldiers -- the better they've felt about the United States of America. They know, above all, that America can be trusted.
Leaving aside the fact that this is plainly false, it raises an interesting question. Cheney once claimed prior to the war that upon their arrival in Iraq, US troops should expect to be greeted by happy, cheering Iraqis carrying flowers. Is he now admitting that was a lie? Because unless he is suggesting they are now so deliriously happy that flowers are insufficient, that's what this quote suggests.
Also worth noting...The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported today that nearly 1 in 5 Iraqis have been displaced as a result of the war. Some are refugees within their own country, while others have been forced to flee Iraq entirely. Maybe Cheney only heard from the people who are responsible for displacing them?
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