Daily Caller -- Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain hotly disputed a study claiming that at least half of Syria’s rebels are radical jihadis, repeatedly exclaiming “Not true, not true!”
“Frankly, I just disagree,” McCain told the Council on Foreign Relations audience, challenging the contention by defense consultancy IHS Jane’s that “the insurgency is now dominated by groups with at least an Islamist viewpoint of the conflict.”
“There’s about 70 percent still who are Free Syrian Army,” McCain said, flipping on its head the consulting firm’s research showing that just 30 percent are fighting for secular values.
McCain has frequently called for an increase in arms shipments to rebels groups fighting the Assad regime, and on Tuesday evening he sought to diminish concerns that these arms may one day be turned against the United States or its allies.
“The point, I think, that you and others are missing,” he told the questioner, “[is that] Syria is a moderate nation. Syria has the highest literacy rate of any nation in the Middle East. They are not going to submit to a jihadis or al-Qaida group governing them. They will not.”
“That’s a really a convenient cop-out to say, ‘Oh, we don’t know who they are,’” he continued angrily. “I know who they are. I was in Syria and I met them.”[...]
McCain also dismissed the Obama administration’s line that negotiations between the United States, Syria and Russia to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles represented a turning point in the conflict.
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Blog author's comments - I don't believe that Senator John McCain is correct about the Syrian rebel forces. Approximately half of Syrian rebel fighters are jihadists or hard line Islamists, according to a new report by London intelligence and defense consultancy IHS Jane’s. IHS Jane’s is the renowned global open-source intelligence provider to militaries, governments, intelligence agencies and industry. McCain has an ego problem that is epidemic among many politicians in this country. The President really suffers from it the most. They will never admit they could be wrong.
McCain is the same Senator who said that rebels shouting, during battle 'Allahu Akbar' is the same as American troops shouting 'Thank God.' Yes he actually said that two weeks ago. John McCain would like to remove Assad from Syria and I would guess so does Obama, but they would be challenging Putin of Russia which I don't think Obama would ever attempt to do.
McCain is hopefully going to retire after his current term in the Senate is over and he may be attempting to leave a legacy of some sort with his involvement in the Syrian conflict and other issues. What I could never understand is how the voters in Arizona keep reelecting him to his Senate seat. McCain did go to Syria and he supposedly met with a few rebels so that makes him an expert and someone we can trust to know what he is talking about? I don't think so.
