Saturday, November 28, 2015

The circular straight talk express


The photo is US Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham sitting in the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. McCain might have sat in the same couch that the head of the Iranian-influenced Badr Organization (who also heads the Hashid Shaabi militia consortium) was sitting in a couple of days before.

McCain has been going to Iraq since 2003; here's a chronicle of visits and associated statements during 2003-2008. It's always saying that the struggle most go on, and more support from the US must be forthcoming. The current crop of Republican presidential candidates will soon be looking to "burnish their foreign policy credentials" with overseas visits. The McCain-Graham broken record on Iraq is a reminder that foreign travel within a VIP bubble and an even more constraining VSP narrative doesn't make for any better policy.

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