Obama takes advantage of press malpractice

Reporting by dingbat Caren Bohan:

FAYETTEVILLE, North Carolina (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama criticized Republican John McCain on Wednesday for misidentifying Iraqi extremists, saying he fails to understand the war has emboldened U.S. enemies.
(Reuters)

That's the lead. You don't get the details until page two of the Web version.

At a news conference in Amman, McCain said Iran supported the Sunni group al Qaeda in Iraq, until he was corrected by a colleague. U.S. officials believe predominantly Shi'ite Iran has been backing Shi'ite extremists in Iraq, not al Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni group.

It was the first stumble of note that McCain has made since clinching the Republican presidential nomination early this month, and Obama quickly pounced on it.

"Just yesterday, we heard Senator McCain confuse Sunni and Shi'ite, Iran and al Qaeda," Obama said.

Here's the video. The "colleague" is Independent (Democrat) Joe Lieberman.



Thanks for nothing, Lieberman.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards are training hundreds of Al Qaeda fighters to carry out attacks against coalition forces throughout the Middle East.

The Iranian government has been providing a safe haven for fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror group since they were forced to flee Afghanistan in late 2001.

But Western intelligence agencies now report that the Iranians are training Al Qaeda fighters at centers that were previously used by other Islamic militant groups, such as the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
(The New York Sun)

This was a Reuters story. Aren't they supposed to know what's going on in the world? McCain was exactly right and they apparently didn't bother to check the facts.

Iran is seeking to take control of Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda terror network by encouraging it to promote officials known to be friendly to Teheran, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
(The Daily Telegraph)

Shhhhhh! Don't tell Reuters or Obama.

The official said US commanders were bracing for a nationwide, Iranian-orchestrated summer offensive, linking al-Qaida and Sunni insurgents to Tehran's Shia militia allies, that Iran hoped would trigger a political mutiny in Washington and a US retreat. "We expect that al-Qaida and Iran will both attempt to increase the propaganda and increase the violence prior to Petraeus's report in September [when the US commander General David Petraeus will report to Congress on President George Bush's controversial, six-month security "surge" of 30,000 troop reinforcements]," the official said.
(The Guardian)

Some might wonder why the Shiite regime in Tehran would assist the Al Qaeda insurgency. Apparently they find it difficult to imagine that Tehran would like to see the U.S. move out of Iraq so that they can expand their sphere of influence into weakened Iraq.

Why that would be a mysterious or difficult to conceive motivation is a mystery to me.

Is it any wonder that people do not trust journalists?

This is a faux pas by Obama, not McCain, unless we count McCain correcting himself at Lieberman's prompting. Either way, the Obama attack on McCain is unfounded. Another mistake for the rookie, though the press is thus far covering for him.

*****