He is known to go down swinging to hostile nations, loves to jaw-jaw with foreign diplomats, rhapsodizes at various summits, gets splendid coverage by news dailies, talks to rebels and does everything that President Obama and his officials should be doing themselves. He’s the elderly Airzona Senator John McCain, who, in one of his controversial visits to conflict zones, recently landed in Syria and was clicked posing with a goup of Syrian rebels. During the trip he also met with top Syrian rebel leaders (without the consent of the National Security Agency or other governmental agencies) from the Supreme Military Council, including its chief Salim Idriss, Mohammad Nour and Ammar Al-Dadikhi.
McCain has accused President Obama of aggravating the situation in Syria and has said, “It’s my understanding that the President has not made the final decision on arming but he has made the decision that chemical weapons have been used. I think it’s obvious that they will be providing weapons. They need a no-fly zone.” Interestingly, McCain’s remarks, as pointed out by political analysts, seem to echo the demands made by the Free Syrian Army, for arms, no-fly zones and various other deals from the US government, in their meeting with the Senator.
The Senator’s other pronouncements too have set tongues wagging. On another occasion, McCain asked women to stay out of the military and said, “I cannot overstate my disgust and disappointment over continued reports of sexual misconduct in our military…” He has also questioned Obama’s secret communication, “Four years ago, you pledged to usher in a new era of government transparency. Since then, your administration has habitually circumvented congressional oversight,” raising a new debate on ‘federal record-keeping standards.’
McCain’s comments on sensitive issues like Syria, military conduct and secret e-mails have got bigger coverage than even official statements from Capitol Hill. He is unofficially doing what the current Secretary of State John Kerry should be doing or for that matter issues that should have been taken up by President Obama himself.
