John McCain's bestest friends?

[MetaTrope]

Here's an interesting coincidence that never occurred to me. In yesterday's Informed Comment, Juan Cole quotes a 1985 Associated Press article:

Rep. Tom Loeffler, R-Tex., presented the "Freedom Fighter of the Year" award to Afghan resistance leader Wali Khan on behalf of the U.S. Council for World Freedom on Oct. 3.

Loeffler called on Congress and the American people to "broaden support" for freedom fighters in Afghanistan, reminding listeners of America's own fight for freedom.

...Other congressmen who joined Loeffler included Rep. Eldon Rudd and Rep. John McCain, both Arizona Republicans.

Arizona? Arizona? That seems to bring something else to mind:

In 1986, Maktab al-Khidamat (a.k.a. Al-Kifah), the precursor organization to al-Qaeda, opens its first branch in the US at the Islamic Center of Tucson, in Tucson, Arizona. Counterterrorism expert Rita Katz will later call the Islamic Center, “basically, the first cell of al-Qaeda in the United States; that is where it all started.” The organization’s journal, Al Jihad (Holy War), is initially distributed in the US from there.

July 2001: Phoenix, Arizona, FBI agent Ken Williams sends a memorandum warning about suspicious activities involving a group of Middle Eastern men taking flight training lessons in Arizona. The memo is titled: “Zakaria Mustapha Soubra; IT-OTHER (Islamic Army of the Caucasus),” because it focuses on Zakaria Soubra, a Lebanese flight student in Prescott, Arizona, and his connection with a terror group in Chechnya that has ties to al-Qaeda. It is subtitled: “Osama bin Laden and Al-Muhjiroun supporters attending civil aviation universities/colleges in Arizona.”

I wish I could say it staggers my imagination that just a year after John McCain demonstrated his support to the Taliban, al-Qaeda established its American foothold in McCain's very own state of Arizona...and then just a few years later, the 9/11 hijackers were taking their flying lessons, also in McCain's very own state of Arizona. And the Phoenix FBI office memo reporting that fact is mysteriously quashed.

It may not have the lyricism of George W. Bush getting bankrolled in his first failed business by Osama bin Laden's brother, but still...one wonders how many favors McCain handed out in Arizona...

[ColbertWatcher]

1. Don't forget CACI has an "office" in Arizona too! n/t

[MetaTrope]

2. But that's different!

They torture for America, after all.

[ColbertWatcher]

3. How silly of me, my apologies. n/t