Johnny Volcano And Qaddafi Duck In "The Producers"

Remember that McCain tweet about meeting Qaddafi two years ago?  Seems after getting hosed in 2008, Sen. John McCain and his buddy Sen. Joe Lieberman were making friends around the globe in the Warren Terrah, and now we know exactly what that meeting was all about:

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) promised to help former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi obtain U.S. military hardware as one of the United States' partners in the war on terror, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable released Wednesday by anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.

The meeting, which took place just over a year ago on Aug. 14, 2009, included other influential Americans, such as Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. Susan Collins (R-SC) and Senate Armed Services Committee staffer Richard Fontaine, the document explains.

McCain opened the meeting by characterizing Libya's relationship with the U.S. as "excellent," to which Liebermann added: "We never would have guessed ten years ago that we would be sitting in Tripoli, being welcomed by a son of Muammar al-Qadhafi."

"Lieberman called Libya an important ally in the war on terrorism, noting that common enemies sometimes make better friends," the cable continues. "The Senators recognized Libya's cooperation on counterterrorism and conveyed that it was in the interest of both countries to make the relationship stronger."

Part and parcel to that relationship: military hardware, including helicopters and non-lethal weaponry, meant to ensure the security of Tripoli. In exchange for this and assisting the nation in rehabilitating its image with other lawmakers, Gaddafi pledged to send Libya's highly enriched uranium supplies to Russia for proper disposal.

The cable does not mention anything about the senators pressing Gaddafi for democratic reforms.

The truth gets even wilder:  Qaddafi pulled out of the deal in November 2010 because Donald Trump screwed him over on a land deal...and in protest, Qaddafi apparently left a badly-shielded container of uranium just venting radioactivity into the air by the side of a runway.  For months.

Here's my question, did President Obama or Hillary Clinton know about McCain's meeting with Qaddafi?  I mean hey, McCain had to get the hardware from somewhere, right?   On the other hand, wouldn't that mean John McCain was working on behalf of President Obama?  Not ready to buy that the first person POTUS would send to negotiate with Qaddafi would be the guy Obama beat in the Presidential election...especially less than a year after McCain's brutal attacks on candidate Obama in 2008.  I mean, totally ready to accept us trying to buy off Qaddafi with shiny guns and Bucket O' Discount Tanks, but would anybody really want a loose cannon like McCain leading the negotiations?

WikiLeaks or not, none of this really makes sense when you follow it all the way through.  Several large bags of salt being taken here.  Also, yes, uranium in Libya, kind of a bad idea.  (We disposed of it.  Still a weird story.)