Posted on 02/06/2014 5:59:05 AM PST by xzins
Hell-bent on arming opposition forces in Syria—despite strong evidence that they’re run by Islamic terrorists—John McCain displayed behavior unbecoming of a United States Senator during a recent meeting with Syrian Christian leaders touring Capitol Hill.
The delegation of Syrian clergy came to Washington to raise awareness among lawmakers of the growing crisis among the region’s minority Christian community. Christians make up about 10% of the Syrian population and they are being targeted and ruthlessly murdered by radical elements of the rebel forces, according to the visiting church officials. They say the media and human rights groups in the west have been largely silent on the ordeal of the Christians in Syria.
A number of churches have been destroyed or burned, children were killed when rebels fired mortar rockets at an Armenian Christian school in Damascus and countless others have been abducted by Islamic fighters, the Syrian delegation reveals in a statement published by the research group, Westminster Institute, that brought them to Washington. Eleven nuns have also been abducted and are still in captivity and two bishops are still missing after getting kidnapped during a humanitarian mission.
But Senator McCain, an Arizona Republican, evidently doesn’t want to hear negative stories about the rebels he’s working to arm. So he stormed out of a closed-door meeting with the Syrian clergy officials last week. Held in the Senate Arms Services Committee meeting room, the reunion also included senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Graham is a Republican and the rest are Democrats.
McCain marched into the committee room yelling, according to a high-level source that attended the meeting, and quickly stormed out. “He was incredibly rude,” the source told Judicial Watch “because he didn’t think the Syrian church leaders should even be allowed in the room.” Following the shameful tantrum McCain reentered the room and sat briefly but refused to make eye contact with the participants, instead ignoring them by looking down at what appeared to be random papers.
The outburst was so embarrassing that Senator Graham, also an advocate of U.S. military intervention in Syria, apologized for McCain’s disturbing outburst. “Graham actually apologized to the group for McCain’s behavior,” according to the source, who sat through the entire meeting. “It was truly unbelievable.”
Not really, for those familiar with McCain’s history on this matter. The veteran lawmaker is enamored with a controversial young “Syria expert,” Elizabeth O’Bagy, who has managed to convince him as well as the president and secretary of state that Syrian rebels are mostly moderate and not terrorists. While persuading the U.S. of this, O’Bagy concealed that she was a political director for the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), a group that advocates for Syria’s rebels from Washington D.C.
Before getting exposed by conservative media outlets, O’Bagy claimed to be an objective analyst at a Washington D.C. think-tank that studies military affairs when in fact she had a “reputation as the leading expert on the armed opposition in the Syrian revolution,” according to SETF. In September O’Bagy was abruptly fired from the think-tank for padding her resume and McCain graciously hired her. “Elizabeth is a talented researcher, and I have been very impressed by her knowledge and analysis in multiple briefings over the last year,” McCain said in a statement to the political news publication that broke the story in late September.
Besides the fact that a Syrian Islamist group is essentially steering U.S. policy, a number of domestic and international media outlets have confirmed that terrorists—mainly Al Qaeda—are running opposition forces in Syria. For instance the New York Times published a piece that reveals Islamist rebels—including the most extreme groups in the notorious Al Nusra Front, an Al Qaeda-aligned force—are running the show in Syria. “The Islamist character of the opposition reflects the main constituency of the rebellion,” the story says. “Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of.”
Incredibly, last month an international news agency reported that Congress secretly approved U.S. weapons flow to what officials describe as “moderate” Syrian rebel factions. The White House refused to comment on the back-door operation, but the story cites U.S. and European officials who say the weapons deliveries have been funded by the U.S. Congress, in votes behind closed doors, through the end of government fiscal year 2014.
The man should be removed from office. He can’t tell enemy from friend.
Both at home and abroad.
No, McCain has always been known for his nasty temper. He's not some doddering old guy who isn't responsible for his actions. He's just a venomous, mean SOB.
Time for the old bastard to go to Hospice ...
It’s a wonder the others didn’t storm out behind McPain so he could lead them to the nearest TV camera. People in AZ must be truly insane.
The whole thing may have been pre-arranged so that Lovable Lindsey could look “reasonable” for his uninformed SC constituents.
I can’t imagine that even Linda wants to remind folks in conservative SCarolina that this McCain guy who supports terrorists murdering Christians in Syria is his best buddy.
We know SC people are uninformed, or otherwise Lindsey would be running last in their field of Senate candidates.
I read somewhere that even Nancy Davis Reagan hold McPain in low esteem at least off the record. But not as low as she holds Oliver North
Judicial Watch really needs to fact-check its stories to avoid obvious errors like this . . .
That this situation is deadly for Syrian Christians, who have been protected by Assad, will be slaughtered by the "Islamic Moderate" rebels seems not to concern McCain.
He should never be in a position of leadership much less in a position that means life or death for Christians being protected by Assad,
Oh McCain.....You've done it again!!!
Is there a way for a citizen from Arizona to request test be done on McCain to see if he’s stable?
We talk about Obama being thin skinned. maccain is right up there with him. Neither have ever made a mistake.
McCain needs to retire. We’ll probably find out later he’s banging O’Bagy.
McCain is one of those atheists who hate Christians. It’s just that simple.
From now on I’m calling him “Big Fatty Face” like in the commercial.
What are the errors?
The statement "Graham is a republican and the rest are Democrats" could be more accurate and say "Graham is a NeoCon Republican and the rest are Liberal Interventionist Democrats". Saying it that way, the statement identifies which political party each is in as well as which foreign policy they subscribe to.
The issue, arming the Syrian rebels, is not about political parties, it is about foreign policy doctrine.
What do the NeoCons(R) think?
What do the Liberal Interventionists(D) think?
What so the Realists(R & D) think?
What do the Isolationists(R) think?
What do the Antiwar Pacifists(D) think.
In the spring of 2013 the Senate Foreign Relations Committee took a vote on whether or not to arm the Syrian Rebels. The committee voted 15 to 3 to arm the rebels. 15 republicans and democrats voted to arm the rebels and 3 republicans and democrats(2 dems plus 1 pub) voted against arming the rebels.
The committee vote was along doctrinal lines, not political party lines. The NeoCons, Realists, and Liberal Interventionists on the committee voted to arm the rebels. The Antiwar Pacifists and Isolationists on the committee voted against arming the rebels.
The people of the state of Arizona need to apologize for that it is THEIR fault.
There are no good guys fighting on either side of the Syrian conflict, but we are definitely funding the bad guys, which is insanity.
I wonder how bad a choice over him Obama truly was. Seems to me they were running neck and neck for worse selection for president in recorded US history.
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