McCain Gaffe: "Common Knowledge" That Iran Is Training Al-Qaida

*** UPDATES BELOW ***

Sen. John McCain is taking this week to travel the Middle East (as well as stop of in London for a fundraiser). Today in Jordan, he falsely claimed that the predominantly Sunni terrorist organization Al-Qaida was receiving training from predominantly Shia Iran:

Speaking to reporters in Amman, the Jordanian capital, McCain said he and two Senate colleagues traveling with him continue to be concerned about Iranian operatives "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back."

Pressed to elaborate, McCain said it was "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." A few moments later, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, standing just behind McCain, stepped forward and whispered in the presidential candidate's ear. McCain then said: "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda."

Continue reading here.

UPDATE: McCain made these statements yesterday on Hugh Hewitt's radio show:

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.

Listen to the audio here.

UPDATE: The McCain campaign has offered a statement acknowledging the mistake, and saying Democrats are making mountains out of molehills:

"In a press conference today, John McCain misspoke and immediately corrected himself by stating that Iran is in fact supporting radical Islamic extremists in Iraq, not Al Qaeda -- as the transcript shows. Democrats have launched political attacks today because they know the American people have deep concerns about their candidates' judgment and readiness to lead as commander in chief."

The statement does not address his mistake from yesterday.

UPDATE: The DNC Communications Director Karen Finney released this statement:

"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. 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."

Comments

[Klip]

Aw c'mon the clown is old as dirt!
Can we really expect him to be accurate..­.or even lucid...al­l the time?
Raygun was younger and HE fell asleep at Cabinet Meetings!
John McCain is a confused old fart...
(like MOST republican­s...)

[PrdAmerican]

By all means, let's have the press continue to spin like a maytag washer every which way til wednesday about race, gender, and polls...me­anwhile, Bomb Bomb is off making a fool of himself in the middle-east and bringing our foreign policy to even greater lows......

[mari2JJ]

Imagine trusting this guy to run the defense Department as Commander in Chief. I think his memory is faulty or he is just not with it. Whichever, remember this is the guy who would have his finger on the bomb if we elect him.

[rzan]

All these ageist comments really are troubling to me. I am close to the age of these three men. I just think they are stupid and probably have always been. For some people, wisdom does not come with age.

[afgail]

Stupid is the right word. McCain was at the bottom of his graduating class at the Naval Academy. No doubt a legacy enrollment, didn't have the smarts to get in on his own merits. We just can't afford another stupid, pigheaded president that learns nothing and only relies on what he believes or feels in his gut.

[JShankel]

Iran is also in cahoots with the Cylons and the Decepticons.

[samuraijack]

Doh! Mmmmm, I'm old people. Give me a break. Marge!

[calirighty]

I don't know what is worse. Huff Post refusing to publish some of my comments, or them editing the one's I do post. Don't think that I didn't notice that my last post was edited down to one sentence and then it had a sentence added that I DID NOT WRITE. Good job Huff Post. Leading the American way in journalism and freedom of speech.

[rzan]

That's interesting. I have posted a lot this month, and nothing has ever been altered at all, although looking back on some of my posts, I wish someone had done a little bit of editing.

[realpolitic]

Maybe it was really your second grade teacher coming back to haunt you..

[sammyscooge]

Calirighty -- you at least have one up on me. My comments are NEVER posted. It makes me furious because I know my comments are not even close to being as obnoxious as many others I read here. I just don't understand it. I will be contacting Mr. Sekoff in short order if this keeps up. I would encourage you to do the same especially if there is legitimate tampering with your comments happening. That is wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to start.

Of course you'll probably never see this comment. It's likely I just wasted 5 minutes of my life like I've done every other time I've tried to post.

Way to treat a fan, Huffington Post.

[afgail]

Have you checked out your "see profile"? I find my comments sometimes delayed for hours but they do eventually show up. I see them on my profile. Never had one edited though.

[hu.man]

McCain's gaffe points to a simple fact: All his posturing about how qualified he is to run the war in Iraq is a bunch of claptrap. I thought he was up on foreign policy and then he makes this error which has enormous policy implications. If he doesn't grasp the situation on the ground in Iraq, he cannot formulate strategy to "win the war" there as he is fond of repeatedly reminding us.

Fact is that the players in the Middle East are not stupid. We continually underestimate them and keep paying dearly for it. They listen carefully to what we and our leaders say. When McCain makes such a grave error, it is immediately interpreted by the power-of-the-be in the region that he is just as uninformed as Bush and can be easily trifled with. That significantly weakens our negotiating position as we continue to rely on military power to enforce our will rather than resort to intelligently constructed diplomacy which, based on what is coming out of McCain, will be near non-existe­nt..

Democrats should take full advantage of this gaffe and make sure the public understands that McCain is no foreign policy maven. He may be a brilliant military strategist but we have played that card all the way through with General Petraeus.

[twofish]

Don't forget McCain's admission that he doesn't know much about economics. Just what we need now, don't ya think?

[lisakaz]

I guess Cheney is giving McCrazy some wacky KoolAid in his geritol.

[TXfemmom]

McCain is just as big an idiot as Bush. He has tunnel vision on Iraq, as does his looney friend Lieberman, but at least Lieberman knows the Sunni/Shia thing.

McCain would be another administration of a dottering fool who doesn't understand economics, and would just do whatever his handlers want, like he has with his lobbyists.

[shag11]

This is only going to be the tip of the iceberg. He should be with the great-gran­dchildren. Not even a young person could keep up the pace that McKiss-ass is keeping, and be lucid.

[pmag88]

John McCain is arguing the same points in his quest for war against Iran that were argued in our run up to the war on Iraq.

Basically, we said to Iraq and the rest of the world; We can’t prove there are weapons of mass destruction, but if you can’t prove there aren’t, you leave us with no choice but to attack, overthrow the government and take over their country. (And its oil supply.)

In Iran’s case the argument is the same. We can’t prove that you want to build nuclear weapons, but if you can’t prove that you don’t, you leave us with no choice but to attack, overthrow your government and take over your nation. (And its oil supply.)

In the case of Iran, Bush has said we won’t even allow the ‘knowledge’ necessary to someday build a nuclear weapon. This statement in itself is a declaration of war because there is no way of accomplishing the stated goal without attacking Iran, taking down their nuclear program, and wiping out whatever scientific achievements they’ve made that could potentially lead to their ability to make said bomb.
Further, it makes the case that ANY nation we deem a threat will not be allowed ANY technology that could be construed as ‘dual use’. Basically that condemns such nations to sell their resources and human labor on the cheap. It condemns them to poverty.

If you are an American you probably have family who are of age to be drafted into what could be one of the most horrible wars in the history of the world. If you are an American you will most certainly be hurt by $200.00 per barrel oil. If you are an American you have already said that what happened in Iraq was a disaster. So how can it be that John McCain is even remotely close to beating either democratic nominee for president in the election this fall? I think the media are lying about this. I think the polling they are using is intentionally biased to create the illusion that McCain is on equal footing with Obama or Clinton. I think a lot of the polls quoted by people on the left and the right are just parroting the disinformation provided by the media and the result is a loss in confidence that we can change our destiny as a nation.

The media is very sneaky about how they do this stuff. They go to great lengths to appear impartial but at critical moments they shift and spin the issues in ways that seldom lead to a good outcome for the overall populace. Case in point, the issue with Obama and his church. For the most part the media has made the story all about race and understanding when at least to some degree it should be about Obama flatly denying that he’d ever heard such controversial sermons at the church. After all, if Barack’s statements turn out to be false and he’s our nominee, the republicans will use them to great advantage in the fall.

I’m not saying Barack isn’t electable or that he’s a liar, but in the speech he just gave he’s already started backpedaling by saying that at times he did hear controversial statements by the pastor at the church. In light of Barack’s own admission, the media should - if the are indeed impartial - at least delve into how Barack is parsing on the first large political crisis of his career. Again, my suspicion is that the media are holding back in order to skew the election in favor of the republicans this fall. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather see Barack fight his way out of this now than to see him slammed with it at the last minute in the fall. Especially considering that in the fall the media may have mysteriously changed their fairness to Barack and somehow his words and obvious talents may seem diminished by comparison to McCain’s.

Sorry if I seem paranoid about the media, but I think I have plenty of reason to doubt their intentions and until and unless they prove otherwise my opinion remains unchanged.

[bushmocker]

I know there was only two of them but when I read the post the 3 stooges popped into my mind.This is the real John McCain,no clue at all,he's been in hiding and can't be trusted to speak off the cuff.They can't hide him until November,I almost feel sorry for what is going to be obvious about McCain shortly.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

Before the country elects another sick or senile President, we should demand he release his medical records. Alzheimers anyone?

[sassafra]

sunni..shi­a...hey, how's mccain supposed to tell? they all look the same to him with those burkhas.

[EndAllWars]

By the way, how much yall wanna bet that the senile's choice of VP will be none other than Joe "I-am-a-re­publican-i­n-sheep's-­clothing"? And how did Al Gore ever pick this traiterous turncoat to be his VP in 2000? Is the Democratic party that foolish that it didn't know the true nature of this huge liability?