A healthy look into the "gaffs" done by John McCain about his recent speeches involving Al-Qaeda, Iraq, and Iran. Quite the interesting read.
Sen. John McCain is taking heat for comments made in Jordan Tuesday that Iran was supplying and training Al Qaeda.
"Dems seize on McCain's Iran gaffe," reports CNN's Political Ticker. CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney reported, "Iran is predominately a Shiite country and is not aiding the Sunni dominated Al-Qaeda." Michael Cooper, of the New York Times, went into more detail, reporting that McCain said, "Well, it's 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." Eventually, Sen. Joe Lieberman, who was standing beside him during the press conference, whispered a correction in his ear, prompting McCain to say, "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not Al Qaeda. I am sorry."
Karen Finney, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee (DNC), seized on McCain's remarks. "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 in the Times article. "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." The DNC website issued a scathing critique of McCain that used almost the exact same wording as CNN, "In fact, Iran, a predominately Shiite country, is not helping Al-Qaeda, a predominately Sunni terrorist group."
It turns out everyone is wrong – McCain, the reporters and the DNC. In the seventh year of the War on Terrorism there remains a dearth of knowledge of pertinent subjects among people who should know better.
One of those subjects is the relationship between Al Qaeda and Iran. McCain was incorrect. It is true that there is no public evidence that Iran is currently training Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) operatives. However, there is a well-documented and ongoing history of cooperation and support between Iran and Al Qaeda despite the fact that Iran is a Shiite country and Al Qaeda is a Sunni terrorist organization. This was spelled out in clear detail in the 9/11 Commission Report.
Page 61 of the report states that the relationship between the world's most infamous terrorist organization and the world's most active state sponsor of terrorism began in late 1991 or early 1992 when Iranian agents met with Al Qaeda leaders in Sudan and informally agreed to provide mutual support for attacks against Israel and the United States.
"Bin Laden reportedly showed particular interest in learning how to use truck bombs such as the one that had killed 241 U.S. Marines in Lebanon in 1983," the report said.
As a result of this meeting, Al Qaeda operatives and trainers went to Iran for explosives training and to Lebanon for training in explosives, intelligence, and security.
Pretty concrete evidence that Iran is a supporter of terrorism isn't it? Perhaps we should have our own "terrorist" organization that goes against Iran? I wonder how quickly it would be before we would get denounced for using terrorist tactics against Iran. Probably a lot quicker than Hezbollah does.
Travis
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