In 2014 VP Biden ratted out US allies trying to oust Assad. If only he'd also ratted out Obama

Oddly Joe didn't specifically mention Saudi Arabia, even though it was up to its neck in financing mercenaries from terrorist groups to wage proxy war in Syria. His reluctance to finger the Saudis calls into question his reputation for blurting truth, as this trip in the time machine suggests:        

Joe Biden Apologizes for Telling the Truth
By CAROL GIACOMO 

OCTOBER 6, 2014
The New York Times

It used to be that lying got politicians into trouble. For Vice President Joe Biden, it’s truth-telling that causes a stir.

The latest furor started after he spoke at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government last Thursday. Mr. Biden said American allies including Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates had extended unconditional financial and logistical support to Sunni fighters trying to oust the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad.

“Our allies poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against al-Assad,” he said, including jihadists planning to join the Nusra Front and Al Qaeda.

Mr. Biden also confided that Turkey’s “President Erdogan told me — he is an old friend — “‘You were right. We let too many people through. Now we are trying to seal the border.’”

There is little doubt that his basic facts are accurate, confirmed by news reports in The Times and other media and by Western officials. Yet Mr. Biden was forced to officially apologize to Turkey late Saturday after Mr. Erdogan demanded it. He issued another apology on Sunday after the United Arab Emirates also took umbrage.

“The vice president apologized for any implication that Turkey or other allies and partners in the region had intentionally supplied or facilitated the growth of ISIL or other violent extremists in Syria,” Mr. Biden’s spokeswoman said.

Mr. Biden, who may run for president in 2016, has a reputation for unvarnished pronouncements. In 2012 he caused a ruckus when, during a television interview, he endorsed same-sex marriage before President Obama did. The timing may have been impolitic but his position was the right one.

In the current instance, Mr. Biden should have exercised some restraint and not publicly shared his conversation with President Erdogan. But the basic truth — that Turkey and other countries enabled Islamic State and other extremists — can’t be wished away. The United States, Turkey, Qatar, the U.A.E. and other countries in the region have a mutual need to work together to counter ISIS or ISIL. That means owning up to the mistakes that have allowed the group to flourish and correcting them, including shutting down Turkey as a transit corridor for ISIS revenue, weapons and foreign fighters.

[END REPORT]

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