Does McCain really know that much?

Republican Presidential candidate John McCain recently stated that he doesn't know anything about the economy. A frightening statement given the current state of the U.S. economy. So it seems Mr. McCain will be running on his foreign policy experience and extensive knowledge of the Middle East. Presumably this means Mr. McCain knows the difference between Shia and Sunni and of the more than 1,300 years of often-violent conflict between these two branches of Islam.

However, in his current campaign tour of the Middle East, and including a telephone interview with right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt, Mr. McCain stated four times that it is common knowledge and reported in the media that Al-Qaeda operatives travel to Iran to receive training before returning to Iraq. On one occasion his traveling companion Sen. Joe Lieberman reminded him that it is "extremists," not Al-Qaeda operatives, receiving such training. Five years of daily news coverage after the invasion of Iraq and Mr. McCain still has not learned that Shia Iran would not be training Sunni Al-Qaeda operatives.

With the economy and the Middle East being the two major issues facing the United States today, such admitted and demonstrated lack of knowledge should cause voters to look elsewhere come November.

Tom Bartlett-Svehla

Mundelein