AMMAN, Jordan - Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting, mistakenly said Tuesday that Iran was allowing al-Qaida fighters into the country to be trained and returned to Iraq.
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McCain, expressing concern about Iran's rising sway in the Mideast, said, "Al-Qaida is going back into Iran and is receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran." He made the comments Tuesday at a news conference in Jordan; he made similar comments earlier to radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt.
Iran is a predominantly Shiite Muslim country and has been at pains to close its borders to al-Qaida fighters of the rival Sunni sect.
Iran has been accused by the United States of funding, training and arming Iraqi Shiite militants in their uprising against the United States. But there have been no allegations by Washington and no evidence that al-Qaida has benefited from Iranian assistance.
After Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who was traveling with McCain, stepped forward to whisper in the candidate's ear, McCain said: "I'm sorry; the Iranians are training the extremists, not al-Qaida. Not al-Qaida. I'm sorry."
McCain, who has linked his political future to U.S. success in Iraq, had just completed his eighth visit to Iraq. He was in the wartorn country on Monday for meetings with Iraqi and U.S. diplomatic and military officials.
McCain's gaffe immediately drew criticism from the Democratic National Committee, which insisted he must not understand the challenges facing Iraq.
"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," said Democratic National Committee Communications Director Karen Finney.
McCain also voiced similar concern that Tehran is bringing militants over the border into Iran for training before sending them back to fight U.S. troops in Iraq, and he blamed Syria for allegedly continuing to expedite a flow of foreign fighters.
"We continue to be concerned about Iranian influence and assistance to Hezbollah as well as Iranian pursuit of nuclear weapons," McCain said.
He added that, if elected president, he would coordinate better with Europe to impose a "broad range of sanctions and punishments" on Tehran, to "convince them that their activities, particularly development of nuclear weapons, is not a beneficial goal to seek."
McCain declined to comment on whether he could back an eventual decision to strike Iran if Tehran doesn't cease its nuclear activities.
In response to a question about possible U.S. strikes against Tehran, McCain only said: "At the end of the day, we cannot afford having a nuclear-armed Iran."
In addition, McCain noted U.S. military officials recently discovered a cache of armor-piercing bombs in Iraq, and he hinted the explosives had been provided by Iran. U.S. officials have long been saying that Iran provides explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs to, Shiite militias in Iraq, although the Iranian government denies any role.
The U.S. military reported two such finds during the past week.
McCain warned that any hasty pullout from Iraq would be a mistake that would favor Iran and al-Qaida.
"We continue to be very concerned about the Iranian influence in Iraq and in the region," McCain said.
McCain ran into trouble last year when he joked about bombing Iran, giving a campaign audience in South Carolina a rendition of the opening lyrics of the Beach Boys rock classic "Barbara Ann," calling the tune "Bomb Iran" and changing the words to "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, anyway, ah ..."
Later Tuesday, McCain received a celebrity welcome in Jerusalem, beginning a two-day visit to Israel with a stop at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. As his motorcade pulled up dozens of tourists greeted him and chanted "Mac is back," as he shook their hands and posed for photographs.
During his 90-minute visit at the memorial and museum, McCain was visibly moved, his eyes welling with tears as he viewed photographs from Nazi death camps.
Wearing a skullcap placed on his head by Lieberman, McCain laid a wreath in memory of the 6 million Jewish Holocaust victims and lit a memorial flame. Signing the Yad Vashem visitors' book he wrote: "I am deeply moved. Never again. John McCain."
His visit to Iraq was the Arizona senator's first since emerging as the presumed Republican nominee. He was accompanied by Lieberman and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., two of his top supporters in the race for president.
He promised that, if elected president, he would uphold a long-term military commitment in Iraq as long as al-Qaida in Iraq is not defeated.
McCain is a supporter of the 2003 invasion and President Bush's troop increase last year.

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"The world is yours and everything in it. It's out there. Get on your grind and get it."- Young Jeezy

McCain=Idiot. Endless war to fight an Idea (Terrorism). Not the brightest bulb in the box. I'll give him his war hero status, but his brain has calcified

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Life is good, the water is sweet. The ground keeps moving beneath my feet.

Bush erroneously says Iran announced desire for nuclear weapons

By Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers Thu Mar 20, 7:13 PM ET

WASHINGTON — President Bush contended that Iran has "declared they want a nuclear weapon to destroy people" and that the Islamic Republic could be hiding a secret program.

Iran , however, has never publicly proclaimed a desire for nuclear weapons and has repeatedly insisted that the uranium enrichment program it's operating in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions is for civilian power plants, not warheads.
Bush made his assertion Wednesday in an interview marking the Iranian New Year with Radio Farda, a U.S. government-run radio service that broadcasts into Iran in the Farsi language. The White House released the transcript on Thursday.
The president reiterated his view that Iran has a right to civilian nuclear power. But, he said, the low-enriched uranium fuel for its reactors should be supplied by Russia , a proposal that Tehran has repeatedly rejected.
"The problem is the (Iranian) government cannot be trusted to enrich uranium because one, they've hidden programs in the past and they may be hiding one now. Who knows?" said Bush.
"Secondly, they've declared they want to have a nuclear weapon to destroy people, some in the Middle East . And that is unacceptable to the United States and it's unacceptable to the world."
Iran has repeatedly denied seeking nuclear warheads, and its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a religious edict in 2005 forbidding the production, stockpiling and use of such weapons.
Asked about the president's comment, Gordon Johndroe , a White House spokesman, said Bush had "shorthanded" Iran's desire "to wipe Israel off the map," its refusal to heed U.N. Security Council demands to suspend its enrichment work and Iran's continued development of ballistic missiles.
Asked if Iran could exploit Bush's inaccurate comment for political purposes, Johndroe replied: "I'm not concerned about that. If they want to spin it a certain way, they can do it any way they want. They have still called for Israel to be wiped off the map and are in violation of three U.N. Security Council resolutions."
Speaking in October 2005 at a "World Without Zionism" conference, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted by state-run Iranian media as saying that " Israel must be wiped off the map."
Some experts, however, disputed the translation, saying that Ahmadinejad's comment couldn't be interpreted as a threat to use force against Israel .
Meanwhile, the State Department announced targeted new restrictions on a bank in Bahrain , which is controlled by the Iran -based Bank Melli, and additional scrutiny of any vessel calling at a U.S. port that has recently visited Iran . It said Iran hadn't maintained "effective anti-terrorism measures" at its ports.
"The international community will not allow the Iranian government to misuse the international financial system or global transportation network to further its aspirations to obtain nuclear weapons capability, improve its missile systems or support international terrorism," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
The Treasury Department also warned U.S. banks that Iran is using "an array of deceptive practices" to circumvent international financial sanctions.
The department said that it is "particularly concerned that the central bank of Iran may be facilitating transactions for sanctioned Iranian banks."
In the Radio Farda interview, Bush said, "There's a chance that the U.S. and Iran could reconcile their differences," but only if Iran verifiably suspends its uranium enrichment program.
"The Iranian people have got to understand that the United States is going to be firm in our desire to prevent the nation from developing a nuclear weapon, but reasonable in our desire to see to it that you have a civilian nuclear program . . . without enabling the government to enrich."
Enrichment produces both low-enriched uranium, which is used to fuel nuclear power plants, and highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons, depending on the duration of the process.
Iran kept its program hidden for 18 years until its disclosure by an Iranian opposition group in 2002.
A December 2007 U.S. intelligence report said Iran halted work on nuclear weapons four years earlier, but could restart it.
Tehran has refused to comply with three U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding that it suspend the program while the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency completes an investigation and institutes strict safeguards to ensure the project isn't being used for weapons.

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"The world is yours and everything in it. It's out there. Get on your grind and get it."- Young Jeezy

So this don't remind any one of anything?!?!? Remember when it was all about Iraq, I mean Afghanistan with our administration. Now it's all about Iran, I mean Iraq. We'll be there by the end of the year how much does anyone want to bet?

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"The world is yours and everything in it. It's out there. Get on your grind and get it."- Young Jeezy

Even funnier, McCain's lap dog, Lieberman, was the one to correct him. "You said Iran, you meant Iraq." McCain/Senile '08

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It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. Einstein

Only a fool would believe that Obama or Hillary would get us out of Iraq. The next president will be faced with exacty what Bush has been faced with. All the promises of getting out of Iraq are all pure bullshit.

Vi

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Liberals are people that will believe anything twice.

it must really suck to defend bush

No shit. The dickwad swears he didn't vote for him, But you just know he did, (His precious tax cuts, you see) He voted for the asshole both times and won't admit it, what a loser. And then he goes around defending his agenda, Yeah right, you didn't vote for Bush, HAHAHEHEHOHO~LOL~.

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Life is good, the water is sweet. The ground keeps moving beneath my feet.

True. No matter who the next president is we are invading Iran. The Dems and Repubs are both in on this never-ending war on terror.

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"The world is yours and everything in it. It's out there. Get on your grind and get it."- Young Jeezy

You seem to have sniffed too much gas/glue or paint, or were you born dumb?