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The Spectacle Blog

John McCain: Determined to Arm the Dictator Before Ousting Him

By Doug Bandow on 8.27.11 @ 4:22AM

Sen. John McCain has posed as the scourge of ousted dictator Moammar 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" he tweeted 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.

View all comments (7) | Leave a comment

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 8.27.11 @ 7:09AM

He's a complete phony and that's precisely why so many Republicans loved him.

C Bowen| 8.27.11 @ 7:56PM

Just like Rumsfeld posing for a pic with Saddam back in the day, the ease these criminals can turn on a dime...

Dixie Pixie| 8.28.11 @ 2:17PM

Senator John McCain is simply both corrupt and insane.
He just wants to see the military, especially the Navy blow up whole countries just to keep the military busy.
After all, no war, no war funds, no military spending trillions of dollars on themselves, all of it unaccountable to the American public.

Why else would he abandon every Republican Party principal and wholeheartedly support Obama's illegal Libyan War?
Why else does he insist the US must keep fighting the Afghan and Iraq Wars after the US won both wars a decade ago?

Richard Baker| 8.28.11 @ 5:49PM

This guy has been trading on his POW past for years which has exactly nothing to do with his conduct as a Senator. Incoherent hardly describes his mental processes. Why the citizens of Arizona keep sending him to DC will go down as one of the great mysteries of the age.

grant1863| 8.29.11 @ 10:09AM

Where is the C130 made? Phoenix?

Quartermaster| 8.29.11 @ 6:53PM

Does Jeff Lord know you used the word "interventionist?" He does, he'll smear you too.

yisong| 10.27.11 @ 9:50PM

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