Sunni/Shiite Mix Up: Did John McCain Just Do It Again?

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Questioning General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker in an on-going Senate Armed Forces Committee hearing, John McCain just tried to reaffirm al Qaeda’s importance by asking if it was “a minor Shiite group… or minor Sunni group, or anybody else.” He was clearly trying to draw out a “no,” but that’s not the point. The point is that McCain still doesn’t seem to understand al Qaeda is a Sunni group.

Most foreign policy experts have known this since the ’90s. Those that didn’t, found out on 9/12/01. How is McCain doing this over and over and over?

I’m stunned. I’m going to have to check the video when it’s available to see if I have this right.

Update: I was close. Here’s the transcript:

MCCAIN: Do you still view al Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat?

PETRAEUS: It is still a major threat, though it is certainly not as major a threat as it was say 15 months ago.

MCCAIN: Certainly not an obscure sect of the Shi’ites overall?

PETREAUS: No.

MCCAIN: Or Sunnis or anybody else.

Video after the jump.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

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So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

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