Lindsey Graham probably should have thought this one out a little better.
The senator, speaking at the AIPAC New England Leadership Dinner in Boston this weekend, thundered, “Al Qaeda, Al Nusra, Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula… Everything that starts with ‘Al’ in the Middle East is bad news.”
There’s just one problem–“al” is the Arabic equivalent of “the.”
Graham’s remarks quickly caught the attention of sites like Haaretz, which pointed out that the definite article “al” ” usually appears before most Arabic proper nouns, especially place and personal names.”
Vox, meanwhile, noted that even “the United States of America,” translated into Arabic, involves “al”: “al-Wilāyāt al-Muttaḥidah al-Amrīkīyah.”
So the U.S. in the Middle East is bad news? Don’t tell Rand Paul.
After much mockery on the internet, a Graham spokesperson told the Washington Post, “It’s not a serious policy statement,” and called it a “humorous way” to talk about the issue.
“He’s not making a statement on Arabic; he’s not making a statement on language.”
Graham has a bit of a history of making the news with misfired “jokes.”
