March 21, 2008

But apparently Gen. David Petraeus didn't get the memo.

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David Kurtz @ TPM:

Maybe John McCain gets his foreign policy briefings from CNN, or maybe it's vice versa. In any event, CNN's Kyra Phillips was interviewing Gen. David Petraeus today and repeated McCain's gaffe from yesterday, touting a connection between Iran and al Qaeda in Iraq. Later in the interview, Petraeus gently corrected her, noting that Syria is typically the path for weapons and fighters for AQ

Partial transcript after the jump:

Phillips: ... The Bush administration has referred to Iran as the axis of evil, but it stands firm that Iran is funneling weapons and supporting al Qaeda and supporting the insurgency. Was it a slap in the face to Americans -- the fact that the Iranian president came here to Iraqi soil when you and other US troops are trying to rebuild this country, and trying to end terrorism in this country?

Petraeus: No again, I think it's very natural that Iraq should try to deal with its neighbors. .....

Phillips: Would you support a war in Iran?

Petraeus: Well, first of all (laughs) that's not a question that I would deal with at all, and I'm worried about Iraq. That's what our focus is on. We certainly are concerned ...

Phillips: But clearly the influence of Iran is huge here.

Petraeus: We are concerned very much about the lethal excellerants as they are called that do come from Iran and we appropriately raised that to those who have a broader perspective and who have a regional and then a global look in the same way we do about what comes through Syria. As you know the flow of foreign fighters and suicide bombers that help out al Qaeda typically is through Syria. ...

(emphasis mine)

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