John McCain stated in last night’s debate that he regrets the fact that we quit supporting the "freedom fighters" of Afghanistan after they chased the Russians out of their homeland. Now I know that ever since Ronald Reagan, Republicans like to refer to these rebels as "freedom fighters", but they preferred to call their conflict with Russia the Mujahideen. They considered themselves Mujahids, which translates, Muslims fighting in a Jihad... Hmmm – Doesn’t that make them Jihadists? Since many of the Jihadists were from outside of Afghanistan, I prefer to call them terrorists.
The Russians left Afghanistan in 1989 in large part due to the United States’ support of the Jihadists. We supported the Islamo-Fascists then because their enemy was our enemy. But hey, by today’s definition, wouldn’t that have made us State sponsors of terror? Does McCain really regret not supporting Jihadists since 1989? Doesn’t John know that Bin Laden was a prominent member of the Mujahideen? Does McCain really regret not supporting Osama Bin Laden since 1989? And, why in the world, does he regret the US not being a State sponsor of terror anymore?
John McCain just doesn’t get it. You have to know a little history... You have to know that the Shia and Sunni have a long history of violence towards each other. You can’t make naive decisions based on your gut without conducting thoughtful research and analyzing the situation carefully. It appears that McCain is unable or temperamentally unwilling to do either.