Exclusive: McCain Gaffe On Status of Forces Agreement ....

[kevinmc]

Exclusive: McCain Gaffe On Status of Forces Agreement Raises More Questions About Iraq Knowledge


In all the hubbub over his comments that withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq was “not important,” McCain still hasn’t taken a clear position on the status of forces agreement (SOFA) currently being negotiated between the U.S. and Iraqi governments.

Maybe this is because McCain lacks familiarity with the topic. Earlier this year, he gaffed when George Stephanopoulos asked him about the SOFA:

STEPHANOPOULOS: President Bush is also negotiating a long-term status of forces agreement with Iraq. Both Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama say that agreement has to come to the Congress.

MCCAIN: It wouldn’t bother me to bring it to the Congress. I don’t think that’s a huge deal. We have status of forces…

STEPHANOPOULOS: President Bush says he doesn’t want to, though.

MCCAIN: Well, look, if we succeed in Iraq, which I believe we are, the rest of it takes care of itself. We have status of force agreements with a number of countries that have never been approved by Congress; we have some others that have been approved by Congress.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But the big ones, Korea was approved by Congress.

MCCAIN: Yes, but we have some countries — we’re still in Bosnia. We don’t have a status of forces agreement there, as I recall. We have — look….............

More at Think Progress

[windoe]

1. He gets grouchy when being questioned nt

[creeksneakers2]

2. Republicans love to claim we are stil in Bosnia

There are only a handful of US troops in Bosnia. We turned Bosnia over to EU troops in 2004. Before we pulled out there were only 700 troops. After the pull out 150 troops were left there. I don't know exactly how many there are today but Bosnia doesn't compare to Iraq one bit.