Mr. McCain said at a news conference in Amman that he continued to be concerned about Iranians “taking Al Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back.” Asked about that statement, Mr. 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.”
It was not until he got a quiet word of correction in his ear from Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, who was traveling with Mr. McCain as part of a Congressional delegation on a nearly weeklong trip, that Mr. McCain corrected himself.
“I’m sorry,” Mr. McCain said, “the Iranians are training extremists, not Al Qaeda.”
Do you think John is confused on the issues in Iraq or is his age just affecting the connection between his brain and his mouth? I will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume the latter, but still reminds me too much of something GW would do.
Just more alarmist koolaid. In order to sell this war the White House has branded just about anyone in the region with an axe to grind as Al Qaeda whether a link exists or not.
Every time I hear the made up moniker “Al Qaeda in Iraq” I cringe. They used to be mere insurgents until the White House marketing department went to work.
Every time I hear the made up moniker “Al Qaeda in Iraq” I cringe. They used to be mere insurgents until the White House marketing department went to work.
So, are you claiming that Al Qaeda is NOT in Iraq??
Bin Laden himself has called Iraq as the central front in the war against the US. AQI is not a moniker, its the real deal. Why do you think that the “Anbar Awakening” is working? Because the Sunni tribal leaders have seen what AQI wants for the long term and they don’t want any part of it. If this was purely an Iraqi Sunni insurgency, then there would have been no “Awakening”. Many, many news organizations (I have linked to just a very small number of articles out there) have discussed AQI. This is not marketing, its what is happening.
You are wasting your time trying to convince Matt. Al Qaeda could march into downtown SF in broad daylight and set off a suitcase nuke and take full responsibility in the press for it and Matt would still blame America for it somehow.
How about you stop being a freedom fighter/patriot when you start strapping suicide bombs on your co-patriot’s sister, or your co-patriots retarded brother.
Spot did you read any of those articles??? the About.com one makes it pretty clear that the genesis of “Al Qaeda in Iraq” had absolutely nothing to do with Bin laden or his organization, and there is still very little to link the two other than the common goal of killing Americans…by that logic we could call Timothy McVeigh “Al Qaeda in Oklahoma” or Eric Rudolph “Al Qaeda in Atlanta”.
The CS Monitor article highlights more differences and rifts between the Bin Laden group and the group founded by Al Zarqawi than it does similarities or commonalities.
They are not the same organization they were not founded by the same people, they do not take direction from the same people, and as I stated other than killing Americans they do not have the same goals. The pro war looby however will insist on making up links allegiences, and even making mistakes on purpose to put the words Al Qaeda and Iran in the same sentence as often as possible to justify the next war.
BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB IRAN…after all they are training Al qaeda, John McCain said so.
Um, yeah, I did. Perhaps you could cut and paste the parts that support what you are saying.
Here’s some more if you still think otherwise:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1230/p01s03-woiq.html
Since the Iraq invasion, bin Laden has repeatedly called Iraq a battleground against the “crusader” West, even as Zarqawi has emerged as his principal agent. Zarqawi has positioned himself at the head of a growing network that US officials believe has been behind more than 70 car-bombings inside Iraq and "now makes him the de facto operational head of the Al Qaeda movement, not the Al Qaeda group, worldwide,‘’ says Gunaratna.
Zarqawi and his fighters were the target of the US siege on Fallujah last month. But US officials say they suspect many of the militants escaped Fallujah to other Sunni cities such as Mosul, which has been the scene of recent insurgent attacks.
By combining their resources, Zarqawi and Al Qaeda seem to be aiming to further amplify their message of total war against the US, the Middle Eastern regimes it favors, and Israel, with an expanded Internet reach and ongoing attacks against US and Iraqi forces.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/17/al.zarqawi.statement/ DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – A statement attributed to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s militant group declared allegiance to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on Sunday.
The statement, posted on Islamist Web sites, addressed bin Laden as “the sheik” and said al-Zarqawi’s Unification and Jihad movement “badly needed” to join forces with al Qaeda.
“We will listen to your orders,” it said. “If you ask us to join the war, we will do it and we will listen to your instructions. If you stop us from doing something, we will abide by your instructions.”
I’m hoping he misspoke. The sunni/shiite thing can be confusing for those of us who don’t deal with it every day, but it shouldn’t be for policy experts and people running for president. It was interesting to watch Lieberman whisper the correction in his ear.
Since the Iraq invasion, bin Laden has repeatedly called Iraq a battleground against the “crusader” West
Thank you for finally conceding the main point. It has only been since we invaded Iraq that Al Qaeda was present there. We created the problem, which is the point many of us opposing the war have been saying for years.
I’m willing to give McCain a pass on merely mis-speaking here. Who hasn’t had a brain fart every once in a while. I’m confident he understands this stuff.
The issue I have regards his claim that he will get OBL. But when asked how, his response is that he isn’t going to broadcast through the media how he will do it.
My question is if McCain has this sure-fire method of getting OBL, why isn’t he sharing it with the current administration and the military?
**Thank you for finally conceding the main point. It has only been since we invaded Iraq that Al Qaeda was present there. We created the problem, which is the point many of us opposing the war have been saying for years. **
Uh, read the thread, dude. Its not about “conceding the main point” whether or not Al Qaeda was in Iraq when we invaded, its whether they are there now, which they most surely are. The problem with continually rehashing whether they were there when we invaded or not (and I will agree that any sort of Iraq-Al Qaeda relationship was more than likely not operational in any sense, and not in Iraq in any kind of numbers) is that it is a moot point now, and merely distracts us from what we know we must accomplish in Iraq, which is to not hand Al Qaeda and the worldwide jihadist movement the strategic victory that they crave against the West.
“Spot did you read any of those articles??? the About.com one makes it pretty clear that the genesis of ‘Al Qaeda in Iraq’ had absolutely nothing to do with Bin laden or his organization.”
Matt, are you sure that you read the article in question? The issue of what you call the “genesis” of the group was discussed, logically enough, in the section entitled “Origins.” It notes that the group “was founded in 2004,” followed by a brief sentence regarding the hypothesis that it was developed by Zarqawi. But then the entire remainder of the section exposits the view that the group grew out of bin Laden’s group. That latter view is presented in much greater detail, and without any attempt at refutation.
Whatever the true origins of the group, your summation of the article is certainly not accurate.
McCain made the same comments on at least two other occasions:
“Today in Iraq, America and our allies stand on the precipice of winning a major victory against radical Islamic extremism. The security gains over the past year have been dramatic and undeniable. Al Qaeda and Shia extremists – with support from external powers such as Iran – are on the run but not defeated.”
And here:
"Hugh Hewitt: Now Senator, yesterday in Iran, President Ahmadinejad’s parliamentary party won. His hand is strengthened.
John McCain: Yeah.
HH: What’s the concern you have about Iran, and about, in particular, Ahmadinejad? Some people want to meet with him. He’s not on your agenda this trip.
JM: (laughing) The day I meet with the president of Iran will be the day after he announces his country no longer is dedicated to the extinction of the state of Israel, the day after they stop exporting these most lethal explosives into Iraq. Just yesterday, up in the Mosul area, they uncovered a cache of weapons, and a lot of it was these Iranian copper, high…most lethal explosives. As you know, there are al Qaeda operatives that are taken back into Iran, given training as leaders, and they’re moving back into Iraq. I think Americans should be very angry when we know that Iran is exporting weapons into Iraq that kill Americans. And so all I can say is that I think they continue to be a threat. I think one of the big mistakes that’s made recently was this NIE, which sort of relieved pressure, certainly as far as the Europeans were concerned, on Iran as far as sanctions are concerned. And so I think that Iran maintains its ambitions in the region. I think that if we leave Iraq, the Iranians will then extend that influence, along with many other terrible consequences that would take place. And I worry very much, I worry very much about the Iranian influence in the region, which I don’t see has been diminished very much recently. In fact, I think in some ways, they are more adventuresome."
This is just two of many. These journalists must be working for the man though.
I’ll ask again, did you read the articles? the Washinton Post one for example cites no links between Al Zarqawi and Bin Laden in fact the two men never met. Al Zarqawi’s organization was called Tawhid al-JihadTawhid al-Jihad, we called them Al Qaeda in Iraq…for marketing reasons.
Not only has the White House grossly exaggerated links between the TJT and Al Qaeda they have grossly over hyped their potency and their influence in Iraq. In order to sell this war they shout “AL QAEDA AL QAEDA” every time someone stubs their toe in Baghdad. The fact remains that Bin Laden and Al Qaeda had no presence in Iraq before we got there, and since then they have relied on the TJT to be the standard bearers for the more extreme fundamentalist fringe of Islam and are happy that we have chosen to name them Al Qaeda in Iraq…even though they aren’t and never really were an Al Qaeda affiliate.
“After a strike, the military rushes to point the finger at al-Qaeda, even when the actual evidence remains hazy and an alternative explanation—raw hatred between local Sunnis and Shiites—might fit the circumstances just as well. The press blasts such dubious conclusions back to American citizens and policy makers in Washington, and the incidents get tallied and quantified in official reports, cited by the military in briefings in Baghdad. The White House then takes the reports and crafts sound bites depicting AQI as the number one threat to peace and stability in Iraq. (In July, for instance, at Charleston Air Force Base, the president gave a speech about Iraq that mentioned al-Qaeda ninety-five times.)”
"Yet those who have worked on estimates inside the system take a more circumspect view. Alex Rossmiller, who worked in Iraq as an intelligence officer for the Department of Defense, says that real uncertainties exist in assigning responsibility for attacks. “It was kind of a running joke in our office,” he recalls. “We would sarcastically refer to everybody as al-Qaeda.”