Update II: McCain Keeps up Al Qaeda in Iraq Talk
Update: Obama Scores against McCain
... The allegation that (McCain) makes about there being 'al-Qaeda in Iraq' that could well take over the country is part lie and part insanity. ... They don't call themselves 'al-Qaeda in Iraq.' The major such group is 'The Islamic State of Iraq.' And to say that they have 'bases' in Iraq is pretty grandiose. They have some safe houses and try to take and hold neighborhoods, so far with indifferent success. The idea that this small minority of violent Muslim fundamentalists could take over Iraq is completely crazy. They haven't even been able to keep their toehold in Baghdad-- the Sunnis have been largely ethnically cleansed from the capital by Shiite militias. - Juan Cole
Senator John McCain is in way over his head, no matter how tightly he hugs Bush.
McCain speaking today after the Democratic debate, offered:
"... Senator Obama made the statement that if Al Qaeda came back to Iraq ... after the American troops are withdrawn, then he would send military troops back, if Al Qaeda established a base in Iraq. I have some news. Al Qaeda is in Iraq. It’s called Al Qaeda in Iraq. My friends, if we left, they wouldn’t be establishing a base. They’d be taking a country, and I’m not going to allow that to happen... "
John McCain apparently believes that the Sunni tribes and the Shiite majority (with their various militias) in Iraq will, after the hypothetical withdrawal of American troops, allow the Sunni Al Qaeda to take over "a country," a ridiculous proposition that even the most pedestrian of students of Iraq recognize as an absurdity.
Will the corporate media call McCain on this rubbish?
"John McCain may like to say he wants to follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of Hell, but so far all he’s done is follow George Bush into a misguided war in Iraq," said Obama.
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