Major Gaffe: McCain Said Pakistan Was A Failed State

[Waiting For Everyman]

Huffington Post, September 26, 2008
Max Bergmann

McCain just badly misstated the history of Pakistan. For someone claiming extensive foreign policy knowledge, this is simply not acceptable. McCain said Pakistan was a failed state before President Musharraf came to power. That is not true.

Musharraf took power in a military coup in 1999 when he diposed Nawaz Sharif - who recently participated in the latest election. The coup followed the 1999 war in Kashmir with India and was due to a power struggle with Sharif, not due to Pakistan being a "failed state." The United States did not welcome the Musharraf coup. Instead the government of the United States imposed sanctions against this action.

Remember Pakistan had nuclear weapons in 1999. Did McCain believe that there was a failed state that possessed nuclear weapons? If he did he showed no concern at the time. The fact is McCain made a huge gaffe and demonstrated he has little understanding of the region.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-bergmann/major-gaffe-mccain-said-p_b_129780.html

[dipsydoodle]

1. Major Gaffe ?

When was he promoted ? I thought he was Private Parts.

[Waiting For Everyman]

2. Good one!

He got promoted for extraordinary stupidity. :)

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. That's because McCain is 'third term Dubya'

Remember, when Bush first exposed his foreign policy ignorance in that interview in 1999, the one bit of international news he did seem to have heard of was 'that general' mounting a coup in Pakistan, and he thought it was A Good Thing, though Karen Hughes had to apologise, clear up, and claim that Bush was for democracy after all:

Bush, in answering the question about the leader of Pakistan, also said: "The new Pakistani general, he's just been elected -- not elected, this guy took over office. It appears this guy is going to bring stability to the country and I think that's good news for the subcontinent."
...
Hughes said Bush was not endorsing the coup, but was stating his interpretation of events as they stand.

"Neither he nor the United States government supports a coup -- the overthrow of a democratically elected government," Hughes said. "What he was speaking to was what appears to be an encouraging prospect, that what has happened appears to have brought stability and resulted in an easing of tensions between Pakistan and India."

Hughes said Musharraf "has said he's committed to reinstating democratically elected government, and he seems to have brought stability to a country that had been in turmoil, and Governor Bush hopes he is committed to keeping that promise."

http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/11/05/bush.popquiz/

McCain is just Bush's lapdog on this stuff - he saw Bush beat him, so he became a wannabe Bush. If that involves rewriting reality to make a point, so be it.

[JTFrog]

4. He also seemed to forget the current president's name calling him Kadari. n/t