McCAIN Defends Osama Bin Laden-Questions Whether He Is "really the bad guy that's depicted?"

[kpete]

McCain on Osama bin Laden: 'Is this guy, Laden, really the bad guy that's depicted?'
John Aravosis (DC) · 9/30/2008 04:10:00 PM ET ·


FireDogLake digs up a Mother Jones interview with McCain from 1998. Not only does McCain downplay bin Laden, but he also suggests that declaring war on terrorism might bog us down just like Vietnam.

MOTHER JONES: You not only have had combat experience in Vietnam, but you were also a prisoner of war. When you look at terrorism right now, with people like Osama bin Laden, do you have any reservations about watching strikes like that?

JOHN MCCAIN: You could say, Look, is this guy, Laden, really the bad guy that's depicted? Most of us have never heard of him before. And where there is a parallel with Vietnam is: What's plan B? What do we do next? We sent our troops into Vietnam to protect the bases. Lyndon Johnson said, Only to protect the bases. Next thing you know.... Well, we've declared to the terrorists that we're going to strike them wherever they live. That's fine. But what's next? That's where there might be some comparison.

Defending Osama and attacking the war on terror. Now THAT'S being a maverick.

http://www.americablog.com/2008/09/mccain-on-osama-bin-laden-is-this-guy.html

[RoadRage]

1. Umm.. 527's... HELLO? HELLO? HELLOOOOOO OOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOO??????

Make this into an Ad. Please. Pretty, Pretty Please.

Thanks!

[Occam Bandage]

2. Questioning the depiction of bin Laden and likening the WoT to Vietnam?

Criminy, do that half a decade later and you're a naive anti-American who wants us to lose.

[CakeGrrl]

3. Iffy...it SHOULD matter, then again it's from '98

Some people might give him a pass. 'How could he have known?', etc.

[yellowcanine]

4. Think if Obama had said this. The wingnuts would tout it as proof that Obama is a Muslim and an

Al Quaeda sympathizer

[redqueen]

5. "Most of us have never heard of him before." - IN 1998?!

:nuke:

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. Actually, that part is true. Hardly anyone had heard of Bin Laden

before the embassy bombings in '98. He had only a peripheral connection to the first WTC bombing - it was the 'blind cleric's' operation. Even after '98, that was one way they so easily convinced people that Iraq was involved with the WTC - everybody knew Saddam, and few knew Bin Laden.

[redqueen]

14. I thought there was an incident in 97...

and that he was on our radar after that.

?

[RaleighNCDUer]

25. Maybe on the government's radar - the anti-terror specialists -

but not the man on the street. At least, not on my street. They were just another one of many Islamist groups so far as most of us knew - no more important than the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Masri, or Abdel Rahman, with nowhere near the cachet of Hamas or Hezbollah. Those are the names people in general knew then.

EDIT - of couse, I would hope that people deeply involved in foreign affairs and intelligence would be better informed than me. Such as a certain 5 term senator who wants to be president.

[redqueen]

26. Heheheh...

:thumbsup:

[Bonn1997]

6. Too bad Obama didn't cite this in the debates after...

any of the zillion times Senator McCain said "What Senator Obama doesn't understand is..."

How about, "What John doesn't understand is that there are actually terrorists outside the country of Iraq."

[Forkboy]

8. See? He was never a good guy. He was always an empty headed shitheel.

[gemlake]

9. And this was AFTER the first World Trade Center bombing

Once again, McCain shows terrible judgment.

[1776Forever]

10. Maybe John has met him on his trips to the Middle East - Some say he worked for the US????

Makes you wonder doesn't it! Take a look at this.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UGXVic15ho

[Hepburn]

11. WTF?????

:wtf: Hello....hello....hello....gramps....your meds are calling!

[Fleshdancer]

12. Wow! Take a look at what I found:

Remember all the "wag the dog" accusations made when Clinton tried going after OBL? I do too so I decided to do some digging...

Friday, August 21, 1998
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/react082198.htm

Last two paragraphs:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) stressed the importance of a strong U.S. role in foreign affairs, and criticized the administration for ignoring problems other than bin Laden, including Iraq dragging its feet on arms inspections, "North Korea building nuclear weapons," a stalled Mideast peace process, and "thousands of people being ethnically cleansed in Kosovo.

"This administration for the last seven months has neglected compelling national security threats besides this," said McCain, a member of the Armed Services Committee. "I cannot say that they've been neglected because of Monica Lewinsky, but I can say unequivocally that they have been neglected."

McCain was a member of the Armed Services Committee in 1998 and he questioned whether OBL was a bad guy. This was after the fatwa was ordered (read about it here: http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/180.pdf) and after the first World Trade Center bombing.

Interesting.

[TheDonkey]

13. WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!

:mad: :puke: :wtf: :nuke: :mad: :puke: :wtf: :nuke:

[Johonny]

15. Here McCain is just lieing

That was just a talking point during the Clinton administration. Republicans constantly attack Clinton for his counter terrorism effort. Claiming it was all a smoke screen to cover up wrong doings in the White House. They used this issue in 2000 to push their party as the anti-war party. Republicans weren't going to police the world... of course all of this was completely opposite to what the party was openly saying within ranks.

[Johonny]

16. Here McCain is just lieing

That was just a talking point during the Clinton administration. Republicans constantly attack Clinton for his counter terrorism effort. Claiming it was all a smoke screen to cover up wrong doings in the White House. They used this issue in 2000 to push their party as the anti-war party. Republicans weren't going to police the world... of course all of this was completely opposite to what the party was openly saying within ranks.

[slinkerwink]

17. oh my god. This needs to get on Dkos stat.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. This was the whole Republican platform, pre-9-11.

They were desperate to minimize the threat of bin Laden when Clinton went after them.

They were accusing him of "wagging the dog."

[slinkerwink]

19. so he questioned Clinton's judgement to go after Osama bin laden?

[amborin]

20. new McCain attack ad:

<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/30/mccain-ad-distorts-obama_n_130626.html>

[Fleshdancer]

21. In 1998, Joe Biden said OBL "is one bad mother"

Too bad it took longer for McCain to figure this out.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/react082198.htm

Told of these criticisms, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, branded them "preposterous," and noted that Osama bin Laden, suspected of bankrolling the installations that were bombed, "is one bad mother."

[Essene]

22. amazing. apparently this was after clinton attacked in 1998

[Dem2theMax]

23. Kicking - everyone needs to read this one.

:kick:

[agentS]

24. Basically, McWarmonger has flip-flopped on Bin Laden.

McCain was for Bin Laden before he was against him...
:wtf:

I guess McCain was too busy trying to impeach Clinton to remember our EMBASSIES being BOMBED, huh?!!

Never forget; the Republicans chanted "No war for Monica" while OBL gathered resources with KSM for the 9/11 attacks.
So any time someones says "Republicans are better on National Security than Democrats" you tell 'em "They could've helped stop Bin Laden in 98 but they were too obsessed with Clinton's sex life to care about national security."