Cain defends Libya stumble, blames reporter, then suggests Taliban running Tripoli

[alp227]

Source: Wash. post

Herman Cain suggested Friday that the Taliban were playing a role in Libya’s new government. The comment initially was seen as another foreign policy misstep from the Republican presidential candidate, but aides later pointed to a one-time Libyan rebel leader who fought in Afghanistan to back up Cain’s claims.

Cain has spent the week trying to calm jitters about his foreign policy after he struggled to answer whether he supported President Barack Obama’s approach to Libya. He ended the week trying to blame reporters for the moment, which was captured on video and quickly spread around the Internet.

Cain’s critics seized on Monday’s incoherent answer as the latest evidence that the former pizza executive is unprepared to be the GOP’s nominee.

“Do I agree with siding with the opposition? Do I agree with saying that (Libyan leader Moammar) Gadhafi should go? Do I agree that they now have a country where you’ve got Taliban and al-Qaida that’s going to be part of the government?” Cain asked reporters in Orlando. “Do I agree with not knowing the government was going to — which part was he asking me about? I was trying to get him to be specific and he wouldn’t be specific.”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cain-defends-libya-stumble-blames-reporter-then-suggests-taliban-running-tripoli/2011/11/18/gIQAU2gUZN_story.html

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So Mr. "Blame Yo' Self" suddenly finds it convenient to blame the media for his brain farts?

HOWEVER, Cain's campaign staff pointed to Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, a failed anti-Gaddafi rebel who later became Taliban, as justification for Cain's Libya/Taliban connection. (The last half expands on Belhaj.) Hmm, so I guess maybe Saddam Hussein did have a role in 9/11 after all.

[tabatha]

1. 'We Are Simply Muslim': Libyan Rebel Chief Denies Al-Qaeda Ties

"Do you belong to al-Qaeda?"

"A lot of false information is circulating concerning this subject. Yes, I was a member of the Islamic Fighting Group whose area of operation was always and exclusively Libya. The goal of this organization was to deliver the Libyan people from the dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi. We never had any interest outside of our country. The Islamic combat group was never a part of al-Qaeda, neither from an ideological viewpoint, nor at an operational level, nor in its goals. It happened that we found ourselves in the same place at the same time as al-Qaeda: in Afghanistan, where we sometimes fought next to them when it was to liberate the country, but we were never at their service."

"On the contrary, when Osama Bin Laden founded the Global Islamic Front to fight against the Jews and crusaders, in the autumn of 1998, we refused to become members of it. How could we want to kill all Christians? Or all Jews? That's absurd! And why not the Chinese or Japanese? Christians and Jews are the people of the Book, we have to protect them."


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2091744,00.html#ixzz1e8TZvMZa

[Bosonic]

8. I may be being pedantic

But there does appear to be some paradoxical statements within the same paragraph, namely:

"A lot of false information is circulating concerning this subject. Yes, I was a member of the Islamic Fighting Group whose area of operation was always and exclusively Libya. The goal of this organization was to deliver the Libyan people from the dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi. We never had any interest outside of our country. The Islamic combat group was never a part of al-Qaeda, neither from an ideological viewpoint, nor at an operational level, nor in its goals. It happened that we found ourselves in the same place at the same time as al-Qaeda: in Afghanistan, where we sometimes fought next to them when it was to liberate the country, but we were never at their service."

Bad translation?

[ellisonz]

9. Bad transation.

"area of operation" should be something like "singular focus." His meaning is clear - whatever they did in Afghanistan before 1998 was to achieve the mission of training to fight Gaddafi.

[CJCRANE]

10. Remember the "Mujahideen" ...

Back in the '80s we called the Mujahideen in Afghanistan "freedom fighters", it's possible this guy sees himself in the same light. It's also possible that Al-Qaeda isn't the all-encompassing group that we're led to believe and that different groups with different tactics and motivations operated in Afghanistan.

[provis99]

2. fucking moron. Stupider than Sarah Palin.

Jeebus Christ, Cain! The Taliban don't even live on the same fucking continent as Libya.

[AmericaIsGreat]

3. LOL at trying to show he knows stuff about Libya now

How stupid does this guy think people are?

Oh, wait...

[Occupy_2012]

4. Other people aren't the stupid ones.

All I've heard from this guy lately is, "I know absolutely nothing about other countries or foreign policy at all, in fact less than a second grader. But if you notice or ask me why, I will become incredibly defensive and blame you for my shortcomings."

Translation: "I'm a Tea Partier."

[joshcryer]

5. Cain must be getting educated via WSWS.

[No Elephants]

6. We're pretending that Cain is relevant? Cool. I love fantasy. nt

[red dog 1]

7. "Got This Stufff Twirling Around In My Head."...

[Submariner]

12. Bartcop symbolizes it well

[no_hypocrisy]

11. It's like Palin never left with this kind of pablum.

[Jay Raskin]

14. Joker Quote from the Best Batman Movie

One can imagine Cain watching Palin on television in 2008 and saying, "Wait till they get a load of me."

[IDemo]

13. "Because Republicans love crazy more than they hate blacks,"

"and I'm crazier than a shithouse rat." - Herman Cain...oops, Mike Tyson as Hermie.

[Little Tich]

15. Nothing that this guy says surprises me anymore. A true comedian.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

16. He's almost at the point of stream of consciousness and free association

"Mr. Cain, what is your proposal for dealing with the government of Iran?"

"Uh, chartreuse."

[sakabatou]

17. Cain's now on Bachmann's crazy train

[truthisfreedom]

18. Blaming it on the reporter? For not being specific? I recall the interview very well.

I don't even have to go back and review it to remember him squirming each time the reporter repeated the question. "What about President Obama's approach to Libya do you disagree with? What would you have done differently?" I'm paraphrasing, but the reporter's question did not need any clarification. Cain suggested that he disapproved of Obama's approach and that's what got him screwed. Royally. He opened up the reporter's opportunity to dig.