Saturday, August 27, 2011

John McCain: Arm the Dictator Before Ousting Him


Sen. John McCain has posed as the scourge of ousted dictatorMoammar Khadafy.  That is now.  But there was then.  It turns out that the good Senator was for dictatorship before he was against it.
Two years ago Sen. McCain was hanging out with the "Colonel" hetweeted about as "interesting" urging arms sales.  According to a new cable released by WikiLeaks:
In the meeting, Muatassim Qadhafi, the Libyan leader's fifth son and national security adviser, requested U.S. assistance in obtaining military supplies, both lethal and non-lethal.
The cable indicates that McCain was the dominant voice among the congressional delegation in a push for military hardware for Qadhafi.
"Sen. McCain assured Muatassim that the United States wanted to provide Libya with the equipment it needs for its ... security," according to the cable.
McCain said that he understood the need for Libya to upgrade its existing ranks of C-130 Hercules aircraft. Libya had bought eight of the military cargo aircraft in the 1970s, but as bilateral relationships with the United States deteriorated, a ban of arms sales prevented the aircraft from being moved to North Africa. McCain pledged to do what he could to move the issue forward in Congress.

Maybe Sen. McCain found Khadafy's uniform becoming.  But then, Sen. McCain's geopolitical judgment has never been the best.  It's just another reason not to follow Sen. McCain's interventionist enthusiasms all over the globe.

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