Notes for John "Foreign Policy" McCain:

Iran funds Shiite extremists (like Hamas).

The U.S.'s "good friends" Saudi Arabia fund Sunni extremists in Iraq.

So: was McCain simply confused? Tired? A little out of it? Did he simply "misspeak?"

He has made these claims before.

Is McCain knowingly spreading false information to drum up support for a war against Iran?

Or is he so fundamentally out of the loop that he doesn't know who's supporting who in the Middle East?

Obama's going to win easily. Oh, happy happy joy joy!!!

Shit, at least he admitted his mistake.

The man speaks all day, every day and just about everything he says is documented. I think he misspoke, he admitted his mistake and corrected it. I think it's more human error than malicious misinformation.

That's true, Eideteker. Quite the mistake for a man touting his Foreign Policy credentials to make.

Orange Swan, I wish I could share your optimism. We'll see what November brings.

Slack-a-gogo: Do you think McCain also misspoke the day before, on the The Hugh Hewitt radio show?

McCAIN: 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 explosive -- 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.

He's a short-armed, walnut-cheeked, party-line-toeing, Bush-hugging pile of shit, that guy. He's also like two hundred years old and covered with cancers. The only way he can win the election is if he steals it.

This is interesting.

Read what McCain said above and compare it to this quote from The Guardian, Tuesday May 22 2007

"Iran is perpetuating the cycle of sectarian violence through support for extra-judicial killing and murder cells. They bring Iraqi militia members and insurgent groups into Iran for training and then help infiltrate them back into the country. We have plenty of evidence from a variety of sources. There's no argument about that. That's just a fact," the senior official in Baghdad said.

McCain seems to have taken this intel and either accidently or on purpose twisted it to point the finger at al Qaeda (Sunni), rather than Shiite extremist groups.

McCain is hardly alone in his attempts, mistaken or malicious, to link Iran to al Qaeda. Here's a quote from The Los Angeles Times from Tue. 21 Mar 2006:

"Iran is becoming more and more radicalized and more willing to turn a blind eye to the Al Qaeda presence there," a U.S. counter-terrorism official said.

The accusations from U.S. officials about Iranian nuclear ambitions and ties to Al Qaeda echo charges that Bush administration figures made about Iraq in the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion three years ago.

Those charges about Iraq have been discredited. And in the case of Iran, some intelligence officials and analysts are unconvinced that Al Qaeda operatives are being allowed to plot terrorist acts. If anything, they suggest, the escalating tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in Iraq would logically cause Iran's Shiite government to crack down on Al Qaeda, whose Sunni leadership has denounced Shiites as infidels.

On Preview: "The only way he can win the election is if he steals it."

As I've said, we'll see what November brings.

Upon further reading, it seems that McCain's statement is directly in line with the Bush Administration's redirection of Middle East Policy:

Flynt Leverett, a former Bush Administration National Security Council official, told me that “there is nothing coincidental or ironic” about the new strategy with regard to Iraq. “The Administration is trying to make a case that Iran is more dangerous and more provocative than the Sunni insurgents to American interests in Iraq, when—if you look at the actual casualty numbers—the punishment inflicted on America by the Sunnis is greater by an order of magnitude,” Leverett said. “This is all part of the campaign of provocative steps to increase the pressure on Iran. The idea is that at some point the Iranians will respond and then the Administration will have an open door to strike at them.”

President George W. Bush, in a speech on January 10th, partially spelled out this approach. “These two regimes”—Iran and Syria—“are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq,” Bush said. “Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We’ll interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.”

That's not as bad as when Bush Mark I said, "This is Pearl Harbor Day, 47 years ago to this very day, we were hit and hit hard at Pearl Harbor..." Which sounds good enough, but he said that on September 7th,1988. and that was a war he served in. Even if you blame the speechwriter, he should have caught that.

You have been under a Bush presidency for too long. Not everything is malicious. I'm no McCain supporter, but I'm with Slack on this one. Bush would rather go to war than admit a mistake.

McCain's new line: "Al Qaeda and Shi'ite extremists -- with support from external powers such as Iran -- are on the run but not defeated," he said. (From here.)

Damn, that guy sure hates Iran.

Funny, no mention of Saudi Arabia...

Not only do Saudi Arabian citizens support Sunni insurgents in Iraq, but their support leads to American military losses.

December 2006 (emphasis added): "Private Saudi citizens are giving millions of dollars to Sunni insurgents in Iraq and much of the money is used to buy weapons, including shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles."

February 2007: "At least seven U.S. helicopters have crashed or been forced down by hostile fire in the past month."

Wait. Al Quaeda aren't extremists?

Woah. Those extremists must be pretty extreme.