McCain’s PNAC Neocon Man

BY TAYLOR MARSH

Didn’t we learn the first time that neoconservatives
like Randy Scheunemann
cannot be trusted?

Along with neoconservative figures like Robert Kagan and William Kristol, Scheunemann served as a director of the now-defunct Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a letterhead group that played an important role in building support for the Iraq War and an expansive “war on terror.” He also headed the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (CLI), a post-9/11 advocacy outfit that pushed for war in Iraq. … … Scheunemann has served as senior foreign policy and national security advisor to McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign since 2007. In May 2008 the New York Times reported that Scheunemann had been working as a lobbyist for foreign governments as a “registered foreign agent” at the same time he was advising McCain. …

To make matters even worse, Scheunemann
is a Chalabi promoter.

The article talks at length about Randy Scheunemann, the national security adviser to Senator Trent Lott, who was the majority leader of the Senate at the time. I read that Scheunemann worked for Rumsfeld briefly in 2001. However, he left his post the following year and helped set up the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, which included Senator John McCain as an honorary member. Scheunemann convinced McCain to announce that Chalabi was “a patriot with the interest of Iraq at heart” and worked to increase the number of US troops in Iraq. He convinced McCain on this latter point, and Scheunemann is now a key advisor to him on foreign affairs. (source)

But today Scheunemann attacked Obama. TPM
has audio of the call. This one is priceless:

McCain adviser Randy Scheunemann joined in: “Senator Obama seems to think losing a war will help him win an election.”

Huh?

But never fear, I’m sure anti Obama zealots can explain why any Democrat would
vote for John McCain considering the foreign policy company he keeps. You know,
the guys that got us into Iraq in the first place, but also concocted the strategy
that hasn’t worked and McCain still backs.