Freshman Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), one of the more embarrassing members of Congress, became a bit of a punchline a month ago when, after the State of the Union, she put her hand on the president’s shoulder as he was exiting the chamber — but wouldn’t let go. This came after bizarre ideas from Bachmann about Iraq and 9/11, and removing science from public school science classes.
Yesterday, however, Bachmann solidified her reputation as a laughing stock. Apparently, Bachmann claimed to know about a secret plan to partition Iraq, in which Iran will control half of the country and set it up as a “terrorist safe haven zone.” Bachmann was quite matter-of-fact about the whole thing.
“Iran is the trouble maker, trying to tip over apple carts all over Baghdad right now because they want America to pull out. And do you know why? It’s because they’ve already decided that they’re going to partition Iraq.
“And half of Iraq, the western, northern portion of Iraq, is going to be called…. the Iraq State of Islam, something like that. And I’m sorry, I don’t have the official name, but it’s meant to be the training ground for the terrorists. There’s already an agreement made.
“They are going to get half of Iraq and that is going to be a terrorist safe haven zone where they can go ahead and bring about more terrorist attacks in the Middle East region and then to come against the United States because we are their avowed enemy.”
How did Bachmann learn of the secret plan that’s apparently already been decided upon? She didn’t say.
Naturally, the comments made the rounds fairly quickly yesterday afternoon, with the political world wondering what on earth this woman was talking about.
By late yesterday, Bachmann announced she would not speak to any reporters about her comments, but issued a statement in which she said she’s “sorry if my words have been misconstrued.”
Yes, it’s listeners’ fault. When Bachmann said, “There’s already an agreement made,” foolish observers took that to mean that she believes that an agreement has already been made. How embarrassing for us.
On Feb. 9, Bachmann said: “There’s already an agreement made” by Iran and some other unspecified party to create an Iranian-controlled zone in which terrorism would flourish.
The new statement replaces that with: “It is difficult to ascertain Iran’s intentions towards Iraq.”
Bachmann told Schumacher with certainty that Iran planned to establish in Iraq “a terrorist safe haven zone where they can go ahead and bring about more terrorist attacks in the Middle East region and then to come against the United States.”
In the new statement, she expresses a concern that “we may very well see a de facto partition in which the western Anbar Province continues to house and develop terrorists.”
As my friend D.B. said via email, “As this rate, my Minnesota neighbors wont be able to taunt me about Steve King much longer!”