Following up on an earlier item, John McCain seems to think he can score some cheap points against Barack Obama by claiming that he wants to “invade” Pakistan. Indeed, McCain is so pleased with himself, he keeps repeating the line, over and over again, as evidenced by an interview this morning in which he insisted, falsely, that Obama “wants to bomb Pakistan.”
Now, as we talked about earlier, the charge itself is a special kind of stupid. First, Obama did not recommend “invading” Pakistan. What Obama did say is that he would be willing to authorize strikes against “high-value terrorist targets,” even in Pakistan, as part of an aggressive counter-terrorism campaign. Obama said he would not wait for permission to do so, which, it just so happens, is already in line with current U.S. foreign policy.
But there’s an even more important angle to this. By McCain’s logic, Obama’s policy should be rejected, and we shouldn’t pursue al Qaeda terrorists like Abu Laith al-Libi. From today’s WaPo:
In the predawn hours of Jan. 29, a CIA Predator aircraft flew in a slow arc above the Pakistani town of Mir Ali. The drone’s operator, relying on information secretly passed to the CIA by local informants, clicked a computer mouse and sent the first of two Hellfire missiles hurtling toward a cluster of mud-brick buildings a few miles from the town center.
The missiles killed Abu Laith al-Libi, a senior al-Qaeda commander and a man who had repeatedly eluded the CIA’s dragnet. It was the first successful strike against al-Qaeda’s core leadership in two years, and it involved, U.S. officials say, an unusual degree of autonomy by the CIA inside Pakistan.
Having requested the Pakistani government’s official permission for such strikes on previous occasions, only to be put off or turned down, this time the U.S. spy agency did not seek approval. The government of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was notified only as the operation was underway, according to the officials, who insisted on anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities.
Officials say the incident was a model of how Washington often scores its rare victories these days in the fight against al-Qaeda inside Pakistan’s national borders: It acts with assistance from well-paid sympathizers inside the country, but without getting the government’s formal permission beforehand.
So, following the Obama model, we were able to kill a dangerous terrorist. Following the McCain model, al-Libi would be alive in Pakistan today.
In one of those lines I really wish I’d written, Atrios added, “As someone suggested in comments, it appears that McCain will chase Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, unless of course those gates are in Pakistan.”
Honestly, I’ve tried to look at this to find an angle that would make sense of McCain’s attack, but I just can’t think of it. He’s not only lying, which is bad, but he’s also rejecting current U.S. counter-terrorism policy and making himself appear soft in the process. If there’s any logic to this at all, it’s hiding well.
Michael Cohen added:
Is John McCain going to criticize the Bush Administration for “bombing Pakistan?” Something tells me that ain’t going to happen. In fact, this type of limited attack, based on actionable intelligence is exactly what Obama suggested in a speech last Fall.
Do you think maybe McCain and his staff should read the FRONT PAGE of the Washington Post before they launch an attack like this?
Two other quick thoughts. First, McCain appears to be in an “attack first, think second” kind of mode. It’s not pretty to watch — this guy frequently comes across as confused and lacking clarity of thought. Incidents like this one only make the Dems’ jobs easier.
And second, it’s possible the Obama campaign has already taken advantage of this, but if they haven’t, it’d be a real shame to let this opportunity slip by. What better way to set the tone for the rest of the campaign than to smack McCain around on terrorism policy? Hell, ideally this would be part of Obama’s stump speech indefinitely: “My Republican opponent believes we’d be safer if we let al Qaeda terrorists walk freely around Pakistan. I don’t know if John McCain remembers the events of 9/11, but I give Americans my word that, as president, there would be no place on Earth al Qaeda members could hide….”