No, McCain Wasn’t Posing w/ISIS Members

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This photo is making the rounds of the blogsphere accompanied by the claim that ISIS members on Twitter are claiming he posed with them. I have yet to see a specific citation of that claim even being made. Not that it matters.

That isn’t to say that McCain wasn’t posing with terrorists and terrorist supporters. He was. But they were members of the Free Syrian Army, which had strong links to the Muslim Brotherhood and other Jihadist groups.

McCain is standing next to General Salim Idris, the front man for the FSA, who wasn’t actually in Syria. The man to the right of him is Mouaz Moustafa, a Palestinian Arab lobbyist for all sorts of groups who supports Hamas.

So terrorists yes, ISIS no.

It’s not inconceivable that one or two of the men in the photo may have drifted through various organizations and ended up being aligned with ISIS. But they weren’t ISIS at the time.

Common sense alone tells you that Idris would not have allowed armed ISIS members near him and an American VIP.

Obviously McCain should not have been posing with them or supporting any of them to begin with.

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  • DogmaelJones1

    McCain is creature who should have put himself out to pasture decades ago. He’s almost as much an embarrassment to the country as is Joe Biden.

  • Erudite Mavin

    Thank you for the honest and factual comments on this report.
    Have seen the standing with ISIS terrorists on one blog in particular
    I respect and was surprised they were sucked in and didn’t do their homework.

    • Daniel Greenfield

      posts tend to circulate and everyone assumes that someone else did the checking

      • EFFNorth

        Newsflash, ISIS and FSA are one in the same thing. You probably know it and are trying to mislead people.

        • Daniel Greenfield

          Newsflash, no they aren’t.

          The FSA was composed of various units, some of which ended up working with the Al Nusra Front, which was also Al Qaeda, but at the time hostile to ISIS.

  • sendtheclunkerbacktochicago

    I have been wondering for months now why McCain never took 5 minutes of his time to stop by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office and ask for all of the evidence they have collected in their THREE year CRIMINAL investigation proving Barack Hussein Obama committed the biggest fraud ever committed against this country. Oooops, maybe Daniel Greenfield hasn’t heard about that either. That is the scandal which would have ended Obama’s reign of terror years ago. Shameful, isn’t it. What say you Daniel Greenfield?

    • EFFNorth

      huh??????

    • Rick Ellis

      OMG I thought people like you disappeared into the woodwork long ago.

  • Conniption Fitz

    It doesn’t matter which Islamist ‘rebels’ McCain posed with, the truth is he was complicit with Hillary and Barack who have armed and funded them, as well as ISIS. These Islamic jihad groups armed by the USA have killed thousands of Christians, wiped out whole Christian villages in every Middle Eastern country. The blood of these innocent people is on the hands of Obama administration and their tools and turncoats like McCain, Graham, Rubio, McConnell.

    • EFFNorth

      don’t just blame Obama and Clinton, blame the whole of the American congress, senate and the American war machine all the way back to when Bush invaded Iraq and brought up the Sunni versus Shiite conflict current at play in Syria and Iraq. If anything I applaud Obama for having some measure of restrain in trying to deal with this mess that Bush and Chenney created.

      • Conniption Fitz

        Obama is complicit with Islamists – he is an al Queda Muslim Brotherhood operative. Obama’s every policy is designed to kill and demoralize Americans and destroy America.

        • nobodobodon

          The whole Muslim Brotherhood thing is just a cover, he’s really a reptilian alien. Don’t be fooled.

          • iClick

            OMG… I saw a picture of that on the interwebz… so it HAS to be true!!! He is using McDonald’s as a cover to fatten Americans up so that he can sell us as fast food on his home planet of Kenya-X12

        • iClick

          HAHHAHHHAHAHHAAA!!! OMG… wow… Thank you… I needed a laugh. You need to change the tin foil in your hat. HAHHHA… omg… seriously… I am tearing up… wow

          I LOVE you guys… I mean seriously… wow… When I see your posts, it makes my week.

          You know… I think that Obama is using the chemtrails to zombify people and make them Muslim Brotherhood shills for the NWO.

          • Conniption Fitz

            BS to your ludicrous hyperbole

      • Skip Burroughs

        Oh he’s too stupid to understand that. You’re wasting your time.

    • shmindrake

      “It doesn’t matter which Islamist ‘rebels’ McCain posed with …”

      … but let’s say ISIS anyway, for better effect.

  • Patrick_Gerard

    What I was reading is that everyone but Idris signed up for ISIS later.

    • EFFNorth

      Anyone who follows Middle East politics knows that ISIS and FSA are one in the same thing.

      • Tom Sea

        This is why those two Americans killed fighting for ISIS were killed by the FSA?

  • Sherif El Kadi

    Daniel, are u for real man ?!!! LOL

  • AASIFF

    If American Muslim was posing here rather than McCain I wonder what would have happened to the individual.

  • EFFNorth

    Is this some type of a joke? The Free Syrian Army and ISIS ARE THE SAME THING!!! HELLO

    • Daniel Greenfield

      Yes you are a joke. The FSA and ISIS are not the same thing.

      Either you’re ignorant or trying to mislead people.

      • Dave Hill

        As it turns out, the group that he was meeting with was a particular subset of rebels in Syria, who we now know as ISIS.

        That’s right, the very same terrorist group ISIS which is carrying
        out ruthless acts of terror and crime in Iraq as we speak, was who McCain was meeting with in Syria.

        When the Arizona senator got back from his trip to Syria, he said…

        “It was a very moving experience to meet these fighters who have been
        struggling now for over two years,” McCain said on CNN’s “Anderson
        Cooper 360”.

        “And they’re very aware of the battlefield situation” the Arizona
        senator continued, “and they’re very disturbed about the dramatic influx of Hezbollah fighters, more Iranians, and of course, stepped-up activities of Bashar Assad.”

        In the images ISIS released recently of their members posing with McCain, the man closest to John McCain is none other than General Salim Idris, who was then the head of the Free Syria “moderates”.

        What happened to him?
        Idris was booted out for being too moderate. This is the group that McCain was supporting.

        • http://sultanknish.blogspot.com Daniel Greenfield

          Idris was booted out for being incompetent, but he was never anything other than a front man, an absent general.

          The FSA did contain future ISIS members, but if you’re going to make the claim that he was meeting with ISIS members, you need to back it up with something more specific.

  • lena330

    Wow — please be careful who you call a “terrorist.” Mouaz Moustafa is not a terrorist simply because he’s Palestinian and has worked professionally for people who have ties to people who have ties to a terrorist organization… by that degree of separation, the term “terrorist” could extend to literally millions of people. That is very dangerous libel, and you should know better.

    • Daniel Greenfield

      He’s a terrorist because he supports terrorist groups

      • lena330

        “The man to the right of him is Mouaz Moustafa, a Palestinian Arab lobbyist for all sorts of groups who supports Hamas.” According to your article, he “supports” them by at least two degrees of separation — this does not make him a “terrorist.” I once paid a cab driver who gave a one-time donation to Hezbollah-run hospital. Am I a terrorist? According to your logic, the answer would be yes!

        • lena330

          I just plead with you to understand that casually throwing around the term “terrorist” is very dangerous (not to mention, juvenile). There are Palestinians, Syrians, Mulsims, etc. who are trying to do good humanitarian work in a very dangerous region, and working very hard to *not* associate with actual “terrorists” and hinderers of progress, yet they get the T-word blanket treatment from you. I ask that you use a bit more discretion in your writing.

        • Daniel Greenfield

          If your cab driver was a Hezbollah member and you endorsed his ideology, then you would be.

          Your analogy is however a distortion.

      • Tom Barto

        In that case, Daniel: every American is a Terrorist!

    • Dave Hill

      In the images ISIS released recently of their members posing with McCain, the man closest to John McCain is none other than General Salim Idris, who was then the head of the Free Syria “moderates”.

      What happened to him?
      Idris was booted out for being too moderate. This is the group that McCain was supporting.

  • Jax

    they are ISIS u idiot

    In the photo u have General Salim Idris,…A big guy in ISIS… Deal with it.

    • Daniel Greenfield

      Salim Idris headed up the FSA. He did not head up ISIS

  • IsraelRashtraSavek

    Israel will take over America

    • Daniel Greenfield

      drugs, don’t do them.

  • http://gulagbound.com/ Arlen Williams

    I think the author is being kind to Mr. McCain. The point is that McCain like Obama wanted to support the side being ISIS dominated against Assad. Why?

  • Padam

    So, how exactly is John McCain any different from these ISIS chaps ?

  • Adam Ignatius Saverian Naranjo

    This article ridiculous link-bate. It essentially admits that these men are terrorists, or related to terrorists, but not technically ISIS. The fact is that many of the men serving with, and under, these men are now ISIS. The Free Syrian Army is made up of mostly Al-qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood, and ISIS. And most of them aren’t even from Syria. US taxes money (given as aid) was used to ship these fighters in from various other countries. This article was merely an attempt to draw in some traffic after that image went viral.

  • Annoying guy

    You’re over simplifying the situation. The Free Syrian Army has absolutely NOTHING to do with the religious stance of Isis. Same goes for the naqshbandi army in Irak who recently condemned minorities persecutions and annexions by Isis.

  • Dave Eboch

    McCain is crooked and totally in love with Netanyahu. McCain and Lindsey Graham keep 8×10 photos next to their pillow of their beloved Bibi. Nutanyahu says jump and Graham and McCain say how high Master? They bow down to Nutanyahu and have sworn their allegiance to Israel over America. They hired these Jihadis to destroy Syria which is an enemy of Israel. Everything they do is to serve their master in Israel. If they don’t they will get a spanking from their master cuz they are dogs! Old white dudes who bend over and spread their butt cheeks for their satanic Zionist master! Yuk and so gross!

  • http://nomadicpolitics.blogspot.com/ Nomad

    Just who approved of McCain’s mission to slip across the border of a NATO member (Turkey) into a war zone where he could easily have been taken hostage. Which State department official gave him the ok for this stunt?. Who was he representing? Only the president (or a designated rep) can conduct diplomacy for the US. What promises did McCain make to the “freedom fighters” and why is it that Kerry, the Secretary of State, refused to answer questions about the trip and directed reporters to McCain’s offices for answers? Whether McCain met with ISIS unknowingly or not is a matter of debate but what good reason was he there in the first place?

  • Dave Hill

    As it turns out, the group that he was meeting with was a particular subset of rebels in Syria, who we now know as ISIS.

    That’s right, the very same terrorist group ISIS which is carrying
    out ruthless acts of terror and crime in Iraq as we speak, was who
    McCain was meeting with in Syria.

    When the Arizona senator got back from his trip to Syria, he said…

    “It was a very moving experience to meet these fighters who have been
    struggling now for over two years,” McCain said on CNN’s “Anderson
    Cooper 360”.

    “And they’re very aware of the battlefield situation” the Arizona
    senator continued, “and they’re very disturbed about the dramatic influx
    of Hezbollah fighters, more Iranians, and of course, stepped-up
    activities of Bashar Assad.”

    In the images ISIS released recently of their members posing with McCain, the man closest to John McCain is none other than General Salim Idris, who was then the head of the Free Syria “moderates”.

    What happened to him?
    Idris was booted out for being too moderate. This is the group that McCain was supporting

  • Charlie Primero

    a Shill man Fellow

    Too funny. :-)

  • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

    Al Qaeda, Syrian Rebels, Isis, = same