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John McCain Makes Secret Trip to Syria in Midst of U.S. Assessment
Wall Street Journal ^ | Updated Feb. 22, 2017 4:13 p.m. ET | Dion Nissenbaum

Posted on 02/22/2017 5:21:20 PM PST by Candor7

WASHINGTON—Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) secretly traveled to northern Syria last weekend to speak with American military officials and Kurdish fighters at the forefront of the push to drive Islamic State out of their de facto capital of Raqqa, according to U.S. officials.

The unusual visit, which officials said was organized with the help of the U.S. military, came as the Trump administration is debating plans for an accelerated military campaign against Islamic State, also known by the acronyms ISIS and ISIL.

Mr. McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, first traveled to rebel-controlled Syria in 2013, when he met with leaders of the Free Syrian Army, the umbrella group supported by America and its allies. This was believed to be his first visit to Syria since then.

U.S. officials familiar with Mr. McCain’s trip said that the senator traveled to Kobani, the Syrian town on the Turkey border controlled by Kurdish forces since 2012.

In a statement, Mr. McCain’s office confirmed that a trip took place, saying the senator “traveled to northern Syria last week to visit U.S. forces deployed there and to discuss the counter-ISIL campaign and ongoing operations to retake Raqqa.”..................

.........U.S. officials involved in the debate say that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to launch a successful assault on Raqqa in the coming months without working with Kurdish forces. Turkish leaders have been pushing the Trump administration to sideline the Kurdish fighters, but they have not presented a viable alternative plan, U.S. officials said.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: kurdishstate; kurds; loganact; mccain; mccainsyria; shadowpresident; syria; turkey
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Kurds must have their own State. Turkey beginning to refuse once again.( Traitor McCain will likely back Turkey)
1 posted on 02/22/2017 5:21:20 PM PST by Candor7
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To: Candor7

McCain trying to peddle some influence?Trying for more business for the defense contractors who have him in their pocket?


2 posted on 02/22/2017 5:25:33 PM PST by Farmer Dean (168 grains of instant conflict resolution)
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To: Candor7

McCainistan thinks he’s president of a sovereign state.


3 posted on 02/22/2017 5:25:57 PM PST by Red Steel
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To: Candor7

The global powers that be have determined that Kurds and Basques must be forever stateless.

Why?


4 posted on 02/22/2017 5:26:03 PM PST by lightman (Trump = A glourius amalgamation of Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan!)
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To: Candor7

Did he go there to warn our enemies that we’re coming?

Probably.

*SPIT*


5 posted on 02/22/2017 5:26:25 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set!)
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To: Texas Fossil

Syria Ping.

Senator John McCain trying to run interference on Pesident Trumps likley move to to help Kurds establish State of Kurdistan, and interfering with Trumps initiative to set up safe zones for Syrian refugees.

The Kurds will get it done. The Arab states will pay for it.


6 posted on 02/22/2017 5:27:01 PM PST by Candor7 (Obama fascism article:(http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html))
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

“Did he go there to warn our enemies that we’re coming?
Probably.
*SPIT*”

Good observation. He is probably passing on intelligence to his buddies in ISIS.


7 posted on 02/22/2017 5:28:46 PM PST by Parley Baer
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To: Candor7

Isn;t there any way to suspend this jerk’s passport, or otherwise keep him the Hell away from the war zones he helped create with Obama? he;s at least unreliable and I think often very dangerous and he speaks for nobody other than his warhawk puppetmeisters like SorozNazi ?


8 posted on 02/22/2017 5:29:36 PM PST by faithhopecharity ("Politicans are not born, they're excreted." -- Marcus Tillius Cicero)
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To: Candor7; null and void; aragorn; EnigmaticAnomaly; TWhiteBear; WildHighlander57; Velveeta; Sal; ...

9 posted on 02/22/2017 5:30:20 PM PST by LucyT
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To: Candor7
"Mr. McCain’s office confirmed that a trip took place.....to discuss the counter-ISIL campaign "

ISIL? Juan McLame continues to suck-up to Jihadis?

10 posted on 02/22/2017 5:30:34 PM PST by Paladin2 (No spellcheck. It's too much work to undo the auto wrong word substitution on mobile devices.)
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To: Candor7

I have always distrusted Keating McCain. He should have his chairmanship of his committee taken away for being on CNN and on foreign soil bad mouthing POTUS TRUMP.

Arizona how could you send this open borders Neocon senile 80 year old back to DC for a six year term. Really!!!


11 posted on 02/22/2017 5:31:59 PM PST by Zenjitsuman (Y)
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To: LucyT

The best short-term solution available....


12 posted on 02/22/2017 5:32:00 PM PST by Paladin2 (No spellcheck. It's too much work to undo the auto wrong word substitution on mobile devices.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

When McCain’s crimes are exposed let’s hope that his gerbil Graham is also implicated.


13 posted on 02/22/2017 5:32:08 PM PST by Farmer Dean (168 grains of instant conflict resolution)
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To: Candor7
McCain has been summoned by his money masters. I would never trust this POS traitor!
14 posted on 02/22/2017 5:33:44 PM PST by 4yearlurker (Work hard,live free,thank God!)
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To: Candor7

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323423804579024452583045962.html

The Saudi ambassador, Mr. Jubeir, has long been courting members of Congress who could pressure the administration to get more involved in Syria. He found early support from Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

(snip)

Mr. Petraeus in mid-2012 won White House approval to provide intelligence and limited training to Syrian rebels at the base, including in the use of arms provided by others. Saudi and Jordanian agents began vetting the fighters to be trained, said Arab diplomats and a former U.S. military official.

Prince Bandar has largely stayed out of Washington but held meetings with U.S. officials in the region. One was in September 2012. Sens. McCain and Graham, who were in Istanbul, met him in an opulent hotel suite on the banks of the Bosporus.

Mr. McCain said he made the case to Prince Bandar that the rebels weren’t getting the kinds of weapons they needed, and the prince, in turn, described the kingdom’s plans. The senator said that in succeeding months he saw “a dramatic increase in Saudi involvement, hands-on, by Bandar.”

(snip)

That winter, the Saudis also started trying to convince Western governments that Mr. Assad had crossed what President Barack Obama a year ago called a “red line”: the use of chemical weapons. Arab diplomats say Saudi agents flew an injured Syrian to Britain, where tests showed sarin gas exposure. Prince Bandar’s spy service, which concluded in February that Mr. Assad was using chemical weapons, relayed evidence to the U.S., which reached a similar conclusion four months later. The Assad regime denies using such weapons.

After Mr. Petraeus’s November resignation over an affair, his job was handled by his deputy, Michael Morell, who privately voiced skepticism the agency could make sure any arms supplied by the U.S. wouldn’t end up with hard-line Islamists, said congressional officials.

Ultimately, the new CIA chief was John Brennan, whose closest Saudi confidant when he was White House counterterrorism adviser was also focused on the risk of inadvertently strengthening al Qaeda. Since moving to the CIA, Mr. Brennan has been in periodic contact by phone with Prince Bandar, officials said.


15 posted on 02/22/2017 5:34:11 PM PST by maggief
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To: Candor7

McCain’s actions are beginning to reek! If he’s going behind Trump’s back and doing stuff .. he’s not going to be happy with the results of his trip.

Maybe McCain’s forgotten Obama is no longer in office.


16 posted on 02/22/2017 5:34:16 PM PST by CyberAnt (Peace Through Strength)
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To: Candor7

There he goes again
Another proxy- war vacation for Emir McCain


17 posted on 02/22/2017 5:34:19 PM PST by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
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To: Candor7

Is McCain leaking Info again ?


18 posted on 02/22/2017 5:36:53 PM PST by butlerweave
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To: butlerweave
Is McCain leaking Info again ?

He leaks more than the valve cover gasket on my 71 Maverick!

Drone.

19 posted on 02/22/2017 5:38:26 PM PST by meyer (The Constitution says what it says, and it doesn't say what it doesn't say.)
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To: Candor7

20 posted on 02/22/2017 5:38:45 PM PST by Fiddlstix (Warning! This Is A Subliminal Tagline! Read it at your own risk!(Presented by TagLines R US))
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