At a March 18 press conference in Amman, Jordan, Sen. John McCain appeared to be confused about the relationship between Iran and al-Qaida. According to news reports, McCain said, “Al-Qaida is going back into Iran and is receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran.” He made similar comments earlier on Hugh Hewitt’s radio talk show.
There has been no evidence that any such thing has been occurring, and McCain should have known that. Al-Qaida would be very unwelcome in Iran, to say the least. Iran is a county where Shiites predominate, whereas al-Qaida is composed of Sunnis. Iran has closed its borders to al-Qaida fighters.
As soon as McCain made this gaffe at the news conference, Sen. Joe Liebermann, who was traveling with him on his Mideast tour, stepped forward and whispered the truth in McCain’s ear. McCain then said, “I’m sorry; the Iranians are training the extremists, not al-Qaida. Not al-Qaida. I’m sorry.”