*Maybe in purgatory, if he's lucky....* *MCM* *The Other Side of John McCain* > https://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/27/the-other-side-of-john-mccain/
> August 27, 2018 • 0 Comments > <https://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/27/the-other-side-of-john-mccain/#respond> > > <http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/27/the-other-side-of-john-mccain/> > <http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=The%20Other%20Side%20of%20John%20McCain&url=https://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/27/the-other-side-of-john-mccain/> > <https://plus.google.com/share?url=https://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/27/the-other-side-of-john-mccain/> > <http://www.digg.com/submit?url=https://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/27/the-other-side-of-john-mccain/> > <http://reddit.com/submit?url=https://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/27/the-other-side-of-john-mccain/&title=The%20Other%20Side%20of%20John%20McCain> > <http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/27/the-other-side-of-john-mccain/> > <http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=https://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/27/the-other-side-of-john-mccain/&title=The%20Other%20Side%20of%20John%20McCain> > <http://www.tumblr.com/share/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Fconsortiumnews.com%2F2018%2F08%2F27%2Fthe-other-side-of-john-mccain%2F&name=The+Other+Side+of+John+McCain> > Save > > <?Subject=The%20Other%20Side%20of%20John%20McCain&Body=Here%20is%20the%20link%20to%20the%20article:%20https://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/27/the-other-side-of-john-mccain/> > > If the paeans to McCain by diverse political climbers seems detached from > reality, it’s because they reflect the elite view of U.S. military > interventions as a chess game, with the millions killed by unprovoked > aggression mere statistics, says Max Blumenthal. > > By Max Blumenthal > *Special to Consortium News* > > > <https://consortiumnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Max_Blumenthal_on_RT_America.png>As > the Cold War entered its final act in 1985, journalist Helena Cobban > participated in an academic conference at an upscale resort near Tucson, > Arizona, on U.S.-Soviet interactions in the Middle East. When she attended > what was listed as the “Gala Dinner with keynote speech”, she quickly > learned that the virtual theme of the evening was, “Adopt a Muj.” > > “I remember mingling with all of these wealthy Republican women from the > Phoenix suburbs and being asked, ‘Have you adopted a muj?” Cobban told me. > “Each one had pledged money to sponsor a member of the Afghan mujahedin in > the name of beating the communists. Some were even seated at the event next > to their personal ‘muj.’” > > The keynote speaker of the evening, according to Cobban, was a > hard-charging freshman member of Congress named John McCain. > > During the Vietnam war, McCain had been captured by the North Vietnamese > Army after being shot down on his way to bomb a civilian lightbulb factory. > He spent two years in solitary confinement and underwent torture that left > him with crippling injuries. McCain returned from the war with a deep, > abiding loathing of his former captors, remarking as late as 2000, “I > hate the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live.” After he was > criticized for the racist remark, McCain refused > <https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/McCain-Criticized-for-Slur-He-says-he-ll-keep-3304741.php> > to > apologize. “I was referring to my prison guards,” he said, “and I will > continue to refer to them in language that might offend some people because > of the beating and torture of my friends.” > > <https://consortiumnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Hoa_Lo_Prison_aka__Hanoi_Hilton__11827025123.jpg> > > ‘Hanoi Hilton’ prison where McCain was tortured. (Wikimedia Commons) > > McCain’s visceral resentment informed his vocal support for the mujahedin > as well as the right-wing contra death squads in Central America — any > proxy group sworn to the destruction of communist governments. > > So committed was McCain to the anti-communist cause that in the mid-1980s > he had *joined > <https://www.huffingtonpost.com/chip-berlet/mccain-advised-ultra-righ_b_132612.html>* > the > advisory board of the United States Council for World Freedom, the American > affiliate of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL). Geoffrey > Stewart-Smith, a former leader of WACL’s British chapter who had turned > against the group in 1974, described the organization as “a collection of > Nazis, fascists, anti-Semites, sellers of forgeries, vicious racialists, > and corrupt self-seekers. It has evolved into an anti-Semitic international. > ” > > Joining McCain in the organization were notables such as Jaroslav Stetsko, > the Croatian Nazi collaborator who helped oversee the extermination of > 7,000 Jews in 1941; the brutal Argentinian former dictator Jorge Rafael > Videla; and Guatemalan death squad leader Mario Sandoval Alarcon. > Then-President Ronald Reagan honored the group for playing “a leadership > role in drawing attention to the gallant struggle now being waged by the > true freedom fighters of our day.” > > *Being Lauded as a Hero* > > On the occasion of his death, McCain is being honored in much the same way > — as a patriotic hero and freedom fighter for democracy. A stream of > hagiographies is pouring forth from the Beltway press corps that he > described as his true political base. Among McCain’s most enthusiastic > groupies is CNN’s Jake Tapper, whom he chose as his personal stenographer > for a 2000 trip to Vietnam. When the former CNN host Howard Kurtz asked > Tapper in February, 2000, “When you’re on the [campaign] bus, do you make a > conscious effort not to fall under the magical McCain spell?” > > “Oh, you can’t. You become like Patty Hearst when the SLA took her,” > Tapper joked in reply > <https://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0002/05/rs.00.html>. > <https://consortiumnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Ocasio-cropped.jpg> > > Ocasio-Cortez: Called McCain ‘an unparalleled example of human decency.’ > > But the late senator has also been treated to gratuitous tributes from an > array of prominent liberals, from *George Soros > <https://twitter.com/georgesoros/status/1033536211103756288>* to his soft > power-pushing client, Ken Roth, along with *three fellow directors > <https://twitter.com/rosendo_joe/status/1033777167262474245>* of Human > Rights Watch and “democratic socialist” celebrity Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, > who *hailed <https://twitter.com/Ocasio2018/status/1033538876370046977>*McCain > as “an unparalleled example of human decency.” Rep. John Lewis, the > favorite civil rights symbol of the Beltway political class, *weighed in > <https://twitter.com/repjohnlewis/status/1033520633467023361>* as well to > memorialize McCain as a “warrior for peace.” > > If the paeans to McCain by this diverse cast of political climbers and > Davos denizens seemed detached from reality, that’s because they perfectly > reflected the elite view of American military interventions as akin to a > game of chess, and the millions of dead left in the wake of the West’s > unprovoked aggression as mere statistics. > > There were few figures in recent American life who dedicated themselves so > personally to the perpetuation of war and empire as McCain. But in > Washington, the most defining aspect of his career was studiously > overlooked, or waved away as the trivial idiosyncrasy of a noble servant > who nonetheless deserved everyone’s reverence. > > McCain did not simply thunder for every major intervention of the > post-Cold War era from the Senate floor, while pushing for sanctions and > assorted campaigns of subterfuge on the side. He was uniquely ruthless when > it came to advancing imperial goals, barnstorming from one conflict zones > to another to personally recruit far-right fanatics as American proxies. > > In Libya and Syria, he cultivated affiliates of Al Qaeda as allies, and in > Ukraine, McCain courted actual, sig-heiling neo-Nazis. > > While McCain’s Senate office functioned as a clubhouse for arms industry > lobbyists and neocon operatives, his fascistic allies waged a campaign of > human devastation that will continue until long after the flowers dry up on > his grave. > > American media may have sought to bury this legacy with the senator’s > body, but it is what much of the outside world will remember him for. > > *‘They are Not al-Qaeda’* > <https://consortiumnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Photo-2.jpg> > > McCain with Abdelhakim Belhaj, leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting > Group, a former Al Qaeda affiliate. > > When a violent insurgency swept through Libya in 2011, McCain parachuted > into the country to meet with leaders of the main insurgent outfit, the > Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), battling the government of Moamar > Gaddafi. His goal was to make kosher this band of hardline Islamists in the > eyes of the Obama administration, which was considering a military > intervention at the time. > > What happened next is well documented, though it is scarcely discussed by > a Washington political class that depended on the Benghazi charade to > deflect from the real scandal of Libya’s societal destruction. Gaddafi’s > motorcade was*attacked by NATO jets > <https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8839964/Col-Gaddafi-killed-convoy-bombed-by-drone-flown-by-pilot-in-Las-Vegas.html>* > , enabling a band of LIFG fighters to capture him,*sodomize > <https://www.pri.org/stories/2011-10-24/gaddafi-sodomized-video-shows-abuse-frame-frame-graphic>* > him > with a bayonet, then murder him and *leave his body to rot > <https://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-60088220111024>* in a butcher > shop in Misrata while rebel fanboys snapped cellphone selfies of his fetid > corpse. > > A *slaughter of Black citizens > <http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16051349>* of Libya by the racist > sectarian militias recruited by McCain immediately followed the killing of > the pan-African leader. ISIS took over Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte while > Belhaj’s militia took control of Tripoli, and a war of the warlords began. > Just as Gaddafi had *warned > <http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/khadafy-offers-flee-libya-exchange-safe-passage-libyan-rebels-turn-report-article-1.122939>* > , the ruined country became a staging ground for migrant smugglers on the > Mediterranean, fueling the rise of the far-right across Europe and enabling > *the > return of slavery > <https://www.cnn.com/specials/africa/libya-slave-auctions>* to Africa. > > Many might describe Libya as a failed state, but it also represents a > successful realization of the vision McCain and his allies have advanced on > the global stage. > > Following the NATO-orchestrated murder of Libya’s leader, McCain *tweeted > <https://twitter.com/SenJohnMcCain/status/105390009615523841>*,“Qaddafi > on his way out, Bashar al Assad is next.” > > *McCain’s Syrian Boondoggle* > > Like Libya, Syria had resisted aligning with the West and was suddenly > confronted with a Salafi-jihadi insurgency armed by the CIA. Once again, > McCain made it his personal duty to market Islamist insurgents to America > as a cross between the Minutemen and the Freedom Riders of the civil rights > era. To do so, he took under his wing a youthful DC-based Syria-American > operativenamed Mouaz Moustafa who had been a consultant to the Libyan > Transitional Council during the run-up to the NATO invasion. > > In May 2013, Moustafa convinced McCain to take an illegal trip across the > Syrian border and meet some freedom fighters. An Israeli millionaire named > Moti Kahana who coordinated efforts between the Syrian opposition and the > Israeli military through his NGO, Amaliah, *claimed > <https://www.amaliah.org/team>* to have “financed the opposition group > which took senator John McCain to visit war-torn Syria.” > > “This could be like his Benghazi moment,” Moustafa remarked excitedly in > a scene from a documentary, *“Red Lines,” > <http://sparkmedia.org/projects/red-lines/>* that depicted his efforts > for regime change. “[McCain] went to Benghazi, he came back, we bombed.” > > During his brief excursion into Syria, McCain *met with > <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0paLxAv49c>* a group of CIA-backed > insurgents and blessed their struggle. “The senator wanted to assure the > Free Syrian Army that the American people support their cry for freedom, > support their revolution,” Moustafa said in an interview with CNN. McCain’s > office promptly released a photo showing the senator posing beside a > beaming Moustafa and two grim-looking gunmen. > > Days later, the men were *named > <http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/May-30/218852-mccain-crosses-paths-with-rebel-kidnapper.ashx>* > by > the Lebanese *Daily Star* as Mohammad Nour and Abu Ibrahim. Both had been > implicated in the kidnapping a year prior of 11 Shia pilgrims, and were > identified by one of the survivors. McCain and Moustafa returned to the > U.S. the targets of *mockery from Daily Show host > <http://www.cc.com/video-clips/fj5ymo/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-john-mccain-s-syrian-photo-op>* > John > Stewart and the subject of harshly critical reports from across the media > spectrum. At a town hall in Arizona, McCain was *berated > <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TMfhdH2aRY>* by constituents, including > Jumana Hadid, a Syrian Christian woman who warned that the sectarian > militants he had cozied up to threatened her community with genocide. > <https://consortiumnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Photo-1-1.jpg> > > McCain with then-FSA commander Salam Idriss, an insurgent later exposed > for kidnapping Shia pilgrims. > > But McCain pressed ahead anyway. On Capitol Hill, he introduced another*shady > young operative > <https://www.commondreams.org/views/2013/09/07/shady-pr-operatives-pro-israel-ties-anti-castro-money-inside-syrian-oppositions-dc>* > into > his interventionist theater. Named Elizabeth O’Bagy, she was a fellow at > the Institute for the Study of War, an arms industry-funded think tank > directed by Kimberly Kagan of the neoconservative Kagan clan. Behind the > scenes, O’Bagy was consulting for Moustafa at his Syrian Emergency Task > Force, a clear conflict of interest that her top Senate patron was well > aware of. Before the Senate, McCain cited a *Wall Street Journal* editorial > byO’Bagy to support his assessment of the Syrian rebels as predominately“ > moderate,” and potentially Western-friendly. > > Days later, O’Bagy was *exposed > <http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/09/27/exclusive-mccain-hires-controversial-syria-analyst-elizabeth-obagy/>* > for > faking her PhD in Arabic studies. As soon as the humiliated Kagan fired > O’Bagy, the academic fraudster took another pass through the Beltway’s > revolving door, striding into the halls of Congress as McCain’s newest > foreign policy aide. > > McCain ultimately failed to see the Islamist “revolutionaries” he glad > handled take control of Damascus. Syria’s government held on thanks to help > from his mortal enemies in Tehran and Moscow, but not before a billion > dollar CIA arm-and-equip operation helped spawn one of the worst refugee > crises in post-war history. Luckily for McCain, there were other intrigues > seeking his attention, and new bands of fanatical rogues in need of his > blessing. Months after his Syrian boondoggle, the ornery militarist turned > his attention to Ukraine, then in the throes of an upheaval stimulated by > U.S. and EU-funded soft power NGO’s. > > *Coddling the Neo-Nazis of Ukraine* > > On December 14, 2013, McCain materialized in Kiev for a *meeting with > Oleh Tyanhbok > <https://www.businessinsider.com/john-mccain-meets-oleh-tyahnybok-in-ukraine-2013-12>* > , an unreconstructed fascist who had emerged as a top opposition leader. > Tyanhbok had co-founded the fascist Social-National Party, a far-right > political outfit that touted itself as the “last hope of the white race, > of humankind as such.” No fan of Jews, he had *complained > <https://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/us-backing-neo-nazis-ukraine>* > that > a “Muscovite-Jewish mafia” had taken control of his country, and had been > photographed throwing up a sieg heil Nazi salute during a speech. > > None of this apparently mattered to McCain. Nor did the scene of Right > Sector neo-Nazis *filling up > <https://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/us-backing-neo-nazis-ukraine>* > Kiev’s > Maidan Square while he appeared on stage to egg them on. > > “Ukraine will make Europe better and Europe will make Ukraine better!” McCain > proclaimed to cheering throngs while Tyanhbok stood by his side. The only > issue that mattered to him at the time was the refusal of Ukraine’s elected > president to sign a European Union austerity plan, opting instead for an > economic deal with Moscow. > <https://consortiumnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Photo-3.jpg> > > McCain met with Social-National Party co-founder Oleh Tyanhbok. > > McCain was so committed to replacing an independent-minded government with > a NATO vassal that he even mulled a military assault on Kiev. “I do not see > a military option and that is tragic,”McCain lamented in an interview > about the crisis. Fortunately for him, regime change arrived soon after his > appearance on the Maidan, and Tyanhbok’s allies rushed in to fill the void. > > By the end of the year, the Ukrainian military had become bogged down in a > bloody trench war with pro-Russian, anti-coup separatists in the country’s > east. A militia affiliated with the new government in Kiev called Dnipro-1 > was *accused > <https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2014/12/eastern-ukraine-humanitarian-disaster-looms-food-aid-blocked/>* > by > Amnesty International observers of blocking humanitarian aid into a > separatist-held area, including food and clothing for the war torn > population. > > Six months later, McCain *appeared > <https://ukrstream.tv/en/videos/john_mccain_at_the_base_of_regiment_dnipro_1#.W4NLXZNKjBV>* > at > Dnipro-1’s training base alongside Sen.’s Tom Cotton and John Barasso. “The > people of my country are proud of your fight and your courage,” McCain told > an assembly of soldiers from the militia. When he completed his remarks, > the fighters belted out a World War II-era salute made famous by Ukrainian > Nazi collaborators: “Glory to Ukraine!” > > Today, far-right nationalists occupy key posts in Ukraine’s pro-Western > government. The speaker of its parliament is *Andriy Parubiy > <https://grayzoneproject.com/2018/07/02/video-congress-welcomes-an-actual-fascist-as-nazi-violence-rages-in-ukraine/>*, > a co-founder with Tyanhbok of the Social-National Party and leader of the > movement to honor World World Two-era Nazi collaborators like Stepan > Bandera. On the cover of his 1998 manifesto, “View From The Right,” > Parubiy appeared in a Nazi-style brown shirt with a pistol strapped to his > waist. In June 2017, McCain and Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan > *welcomed > Parubiy > <https://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/john-mccain-and-paul-ryan-hold-good-meeting-veteran-ukrainian-nazi-demagogue-andriy>* > on > Capitol Hill for what McCain called a “good meeting.” It was a shot in the > arm for the fascist forces sweeping across Ukraine. > <https://consortiumnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Photo-4.jpg> > > McCain with Dnipro-1 militants on June 20, 2015 > > The past months in Ukraine have seen a*state sponsored > <https://www.rferl.org/a/ukrainian-militia-behind-brutal-romany-attacks-getting-state-funds/29290844.html>* > neo-Nazi > militia called C14 carrying out a pogromist rampage against Ukraine’s Roma > population, the country’s parliament erecting an*exhibition > <http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/248608>* honoring Nazi > collaborators, and the Ukrainian military *formallyapproving > <http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/250641>* the pro-Nazi > “Glory to Ukraine” greeting as its own official salute. > > Ukraine is now the sick man of Europe, a perpetual aid case bogged down in > an endless war in its east. In a testament to the country’s demise since > its so-called “Revolution of Dignity,” the deeply unpopular President Petro > Poroshenko has promised White House National Security Advisor John Bolton > that his country — once a plentiful source of coal on par with Pennsylvania > — will *now purchase coal > <https://www.rt.com/business/436753-ukraine-us-coal-us-locos/>* from the > U.S. Once again, a regime change operation that generated a failing, > fascistic state stands as one of McCain’s greatest triumphs. > > McCain’s history conjures up memory of one of the most inflammatory > statements by Sarah Palin, another cretinous fanatic he foisted onto the > world stage. During a characteristically rambling stump speech in October > 2008, Palin*accused <http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/04/palin.obama/>* > Barack > Obama of “palling around with terrorists.” The line was dismissed as > ridiculous and borderline slander, as it should have been. But looking back > at McCain’s career, the accusation seems richly ironic. > > By any objective standard, it was McCain who had palled around with > terrorists, and who wrested as much resources as he could from the American > taxpayer to maximize their mayhem. Here’s hoping that the societies > shattered by McCain’s proxies will someday rest in peace. > > *Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and the author of books > including best-selling **Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That > Shattered the Party* > <https://www.amazon.com/Republican-Gomorrah-Inside-Movement-Shattered/dp/1568584172> > *, **Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel* > <https://www.amazon.com/Goliath-Life-Loathing-Greater-Israel/dp/1568586345> > *, **The Fifty One Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza* > <https://www.amazon.com/51-Day-War-Ruin-Resistance/dp/156858511X>*, and > The Management of Savagery, which will be published later this year by > Verso. He has also produced numerous print articles for an array of > publications, many video reports and several documentaries including **Je > Ne Suis Pas Charlie* <https://vimeo.com/145816483> *and the forthcoming > **Killing > Gaza* <https://killinggaza.com/>*.* > > https://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/27/the-other-side-of-john-mccain/ > Michael Carmichael > 125 South Estes Drive Unit 9911 > Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515 > USA > > michaelcarmichael.com > > > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. If you'd like to donate to News From Underground, please visit http://markcrispinmiller.com/donate - we appreciate your ongoing support. Ways to unsubscribe, 1) send a blank email to [email protected]. 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