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Jay Carney Bushwacked by McCain on CNN
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
September 11, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
President Barack Obama’s former press secretary
49-year-old Jay Carney was treated to more of 78-year-old Sen. John McCain’s
(R-Ariz.) sour grapes after getting shellacked by President Barack Obama in the
2008 presidential election. Since
losing Nov. 4, 2008, McCain’s been Obama’s biggest critic. His latest brouhaha came at the expense of Carney’s debut as a political analyst after
Obama’s primetime speech announcing his war against the Islamic State of Iraq
and Syria [ISIS]. McCain called
Obama’s speech a “weak argument,” blaming Obama for pulling the plug on Iraq
Dec. 15, 2011, opening the floodgates of Islamic extremism. McCain said several times during the
segment moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper that Carney didn’t know the facts. Turned out McCain was right. Carney didn’t know or tell McCain
that the U.S. was evicted from Iraq by Nouri al-Mailiki in 2011.
McCain insisted that the waves of terrorism in Iraq and Syria directly
relate to Obama’s decision to end the war in Iraq without leaving a Korean-like
residual peacekeeping force. “I’m
astonished,” said McCain. “That Mr.
Carney should say that the Free Syrian Army is now stronger,” referring to the
moderate opposition group led by Gen. Salim Idris who lost truckloads of U.S.
weapons to ISIS. While Carney
groped to explain the complete pullout of U.S. forces Dec. 15, 2011, he forgot
to tell McCain that former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki refused to let any
U.S. troops stay beyond the agreed up drop-dead date. Obama and former Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton spent years trying to convince al-Maliki to leave a
contingent of U.S. troops in Iraq to guard against terrorist activities. McCain completely ignores that the
U.S. was booted out of Iraq by al-Maliki.
Carney and McCain forget about al-Maliki’s insistence that all U.S.
forces leave Iraq by the end of 2011.
“The last American soldier will leave Iraq,” al-Maliki told the Wall
Street Journal Dec. 28, 2010. “This
agreement is not subject to extension, not subject to alteration. It is sealed,” proving al-Maliki’s
stubborn insistence on ending all U.S. involvement by the end of 2011. While McCain wants to blame
Obama, Carney forgets the history that had Obama and Hillary tried their best to
get al-Maliki to agree to an immunity agreement for U.S. forces that stay beyond
the drop-dead date. If Carney or
McCain check the facts, they’ll find the administration giving up Oct. 17, 2011
when al-Maliki refused to sign an immunity agreement for U.S. forces beyond
2011, forcing the U.S. to get out of Iraq.
Al-Malik clearly overestimated Iraq’s security services capability to
deal with terrorism.
Expecting U.S. forces to stay in Iraq when al-Maliki insisted on them
getting out by the end of 2011 is more evidence of McCain’s sour grapes. Instead of facing al-Maliki’s arrogances and incompetence of the Iraqi military, McCain
wants to blame Obama for ISIS blitzkrieg, stealing about 30% of Iraq and Syrian
territory. While it’s probably true
that Obama wanted to fulfill a campaign promise to end the Iraq War, it’s also
true that al-Maliki wanted the U.S. out.
“You, in your role as spokesperson, bragged about the fact that the last
combat troop had left Iraq,” said McCain, suggesting that the White House wanted
U.S. forces out of Iraq. Blaming
Obama for everything but the kitchen sink, McCain continues his nearly six-year
rant after getting trounced by Obama in 2008
Carney had trouble dredging up the relevant facts other than spewing
platitudes to satisfy McCain.
Blaming Obama for ISIS is no different that blaming former President
George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for Sept. 11. White there’s plenty of blame to go
around, U.S. terrorism policy under former President Reagan, Bush 41 and Clinton
wasn’t aggressive enough until former President George W. Bush was forced to
respond to Sept. 11. If there’s any
lesson at all from Sept. 11, it’s that terrorist threats have to be nipped in
the bud, rather than waiting until they hit the homeland. After watching U.S. journalists
James Foley and Stephen Sotloff beheaded, Obama got the message that he had to
go on the offensive against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Pointing fingers does nothing to
deal with maa-murdering criminal gangs like ISIS that think nothing of killing,
raping and torturing anyone that opposes their radical acts. Obama’s decision to go after ISIS drew mixed international reviews.
When Arab League President Nabil Elaraby urged the world community to
“comprehensively” confront ISIS, it gave Obama the green light. Now that Barack made his decision to
go after ISIS in Syria, Russia states the most vehement objections. “In the absence of an appropriate
decision of the U.N. Security Council, such a step would be an act of
aggression, a crude violation of international law,” said Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov. U.S. officials don’t take Russian objections too seriously since they seized Crimea March
1, still threatening to take more land in Southeastern Ukraine. No one other than McCain blames
Obama for ISIS, revealing his lingering sour grapes over the 2008 presidential
elections. Without stating publicly
support for attacking ISIS, most of the civilized world is behind Obama. Only McCain, continues the “wouldas, couldas and shouldas” about Iraq.
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