Juan Cole

In the real world of political ads, McCain and his surrogates are shouting ugly insults at Barack Obama. He is accused of saying that US airstrikes have killed innocents. This is true and McCain said it, too. They say he was on a committee with a professor who used to be a Weatherman 40 years […]

Fact checking the debate: ‘MCCAIN: Now, let me just go back with you very briefly. We drove the Russians out with — the Afghan freedom fighters drove the Russians out of Afghanistan, and then we made a most serious mistake. We washed our hands of Afghanistan. The Taliban came back in, Al Qaeda, we then […]

Turkish war planes pounded northern Iraq on Monday, seeking to punish members of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) who are implicated in bombings and other attacks inside Turkey. Secretary of State Condi Rice said Monday that the Iraq War has been “harder, longer, and more difficult than I personally imagined” and she warned that victory […]

From “Larry King Live,” August 3, 1992: McCain gave two reasons for US military involvement in the Middle East. We are a “Judeo-Christian nation” [so it really is a Crusade?] and “as long as the world’s energy resources come from that part of the world . . .” ‘ [Larry] KING: Quickly – El Paso. […]

On CNN’s Larry King Live, April 23, 1991, Sen. John McCain opposed invading Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein on the grounds that 1) we’d turn Saddam Hussein into a hero; 2) we could not do it with air power and would need to commit ground troops; 3) we wouldn’t be able to tell Sunnis from […]

Many of the “contras” or members of right wing guerrilla groups fighting the Sandinista government in the 1980s were drug smugglers and terrorists. High government officials of the Reagan and Bush, Sr. administrations knew very well about the drug running. It has been alleged that the Contra drug smuggling sparked the crack cocaine crisis among […]

Charles Keating on ABC Nightline, May 14, 1990: certainly hoped that the money he gave Sen. John McCain and other politicians influence them to take up his cause. ‘ TED KOPPEL: [voice-over] It’s been called the biggest financial mess in U.S. history: the savings and loan disaster that’s left taxpayers holding the bag for an […]

Sarah Palin’s jab at Barack Obama on Sunday attempting to tie him to terrorism (!) is another in a long line of gaffes that will hurt her ticket tremendously. You always suspected that McCain, if he got in trouble with the electorate, really would stoop to calling his rival a terrorist. Saturday Night Live writers […]

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah recently hosted talks in Mecca, between Taliban and the Karzai government. And that’s the good news!