McCain spokesman: McCain didn’t pose with Syrian rebel kidnappers…unless he did

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Unfortunately, Lebanon's "Daily Star" newspaper is reporting that two of the Senator's new pals are Mohamed Nour and Abu Ibrahim - a couple of unsavory guys who stand accused of kidnapping 11 Shi'ite pilgrims in May of last year and a Lebanese journalist in October. Two of the kidnapping victims have since been released, and one of them - Anwar Ibrahim - recognized Nour in the McCain photos. The other nine captives are still being held hostage and negotiations are ongoing. Yesterday, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers addressed the issue in an email to Buzzfeed.

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"In coordination with the Syrian Emergency Task Force, Senator John McCain traveled to and from Syria with General Salim Idris, the chief of staff of the Supreme Military Council of the Syrian opposition, to meet with two senior Free Syrian Army commanders. None of the individuals the Senator planned to meet with was named Mohamad Nour or Abu Ibrahim. A number of other Syrian commanders joined the meeting, but none of them identified himself as Mohamad Nour or Abu Ibrahim.

As the Syrian Emergency Task Force has said: "Senator McCain did not go to Syria to meet with anyone named Mohamad Nour or Abu Ibrahim. Two members of our organization were present in the meeting, and no one called himself by either name." Sure, you can argue that a pair of most-wanted Syrian kidnappers might not use their real names, but then you'd just be splitting hairs. McCain's people are sure that the Senator didn't meet with the kidnappers, and that's that. There's nothing more to see here. Please move along. Right? The email continues.... "If the individual photographed with Senator McCain is in fact Mohamed Nour, that is regrettable. But it would be ludicrous to suggest that the senator in any way condones the kidnapping of Lebanese Shia pilgrims or has any communication with those responsible." Uh-oh. So, the man in the photo is definitely not this Mohamed Nour guy, unless of course it turns out that he is. If he is, well, shucks, that's too bad. This is exactly the kind of clarity we've come to expect from Senator McCain. For future reference, we'd like to suggest that it would behoove the Senator to know who he's meeting before he sneaks into a hostile country that's being ripped apart by a civil war between Assad and Al Qaeda-backed rebels. Kidnappers in that part of the world might think a powerful U.S. Senator would make a pretty juicy target.

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