Getting Inside McCain's Head Posted by Michael Cohen

Thanks to Max for flagging John McCain's frankly stunning comments about Sunnis and Shia, but it's worth looking at exactly what he 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.

And then there is this

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,” Mr. McCain said, according to a transcript posted on the show’s Web site.

This reminds me of the story from George Packer's March 2003 New Yorker article about the run up to war with Iraq and this anecdote:

Bush is a man who has never shown much curiosity about the world. When he met with Makiya and two other Iraqis in January, I was told by someone not present, the exiles spent a good portion of the time explaining to the president that there are two kinds of Arabs in Iraq, Sunnis and Shiites.

Just what we need, another President who can't figure out the difference between a Sunni and Shiite.

Now I can't get into John McCain's head and look around, but it sure seems like McCain is adopting the Bush Administration's argument that everyone fighting US forces in Iraq is a terrorist and thus Al Qaeda. It doesn't matter if they are Shiite and Sunni, apparently for John McCain, every "extremist" looks the same. This is a pretty broad brush way of looking at the "war on terror" and it's pretty damn foolish.

It sort of begs the question, is John McCain just not as smart as we thought he was, or is he silly enough to actually believe anything that comes out of this White House. Either way, as Max suggests, this is kind of a big deal.

Comments

[Tom in California]

A worthy successor to Bush: another ignorant man who wants to be commander in chief as he wages war against a society he knows nothing about.

The Iraq war increasingly reminds me of the old joke conservatives used to tell about Christopher Columbus encountering America when he wanted to go to the far east: "When he left, he didn't know where he was going. When he got back, he didn't know where he had been. And he did it all on borrowed money."

[Jared]

Actually, Iran training Al Qaeda HAS been widely reported in the news. He meant to say extremists, but his original statement was accurate too. Look at the 9-11 Commission Report, page 61 or The New York Sun 11/14/06, or USA Today 4/11/07, The Guardian 5/22/07, and on and on. Could someone please at least PRETEND they aren't just looking for any little thing to crucify McCain over?

[How Insane Is John McCain?]

I'm inside his head. It's REALLY dusty in here.

[smaug]

And the Sunni-Shia split is also the reason that any reports of Iranian support for HAMAS must be false, right?

That said, the _Guardian_ report does not say that Iran is training or even funding AQI but that Iran is turning a blind eye to AQI movements in and out of Iran. McCain went much further to claim that Iran was training and funding; there is no independent report of that.

[james townsend]

Actually, Iran training Al Qaeda HAS been widely reported in the news. He meant to say extremists, but his original statement was accurate too. Look at the 9-11 Commission Report, page 61 or The New York Sun 11/14/06, or USA Today 4/11/07, The Guardian 5/22/07, and on and on. Sheesh! Could someone please at least PRETEND they aren't just looking for any little thing to crucify McCain over?

[Brian]

I'd like to know what "understanding the difference between Shiite and Sunni Muslims" has to do with acknowledging that Iran is providing training or funding for AQI. Those of you who state this make a lot of simplistic assumptions; that just because Iran is governed by Shiites, they would not dare work with Sunnis to undermine US policy in Iraq and, therefore, strengthen their position in the region. The world is a complicated place and state actors make decisions attempting to maximize their position, often choosing what they see as the "lesser of two evils." Examples are plentiful: US backing of Somoza in Cuba, only to later help Castro overthrow the Somoza regime, followed a few years later by the Bay of Pigs; or US support of Osama bin Laden & Co. in Afghanistan against the Soviets. One of the most frequent - and perhaps valid - criticisms of President Bush is that he views the world with a narrow, simplistic focus. Michael Cohen, Permalink and Tom in California are just as guilty of a simplistic outlook, and I suspect, know little more about the differences and animosities between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, other than that the differences exist.

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