Sen. John Cornyn: U.S. Should Bomb China, Not India – Huh?

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said in a TV interview that the F-22 bomber is needed because the U.S. may need to bomb India. He then clarified that – oops- he didn’t mean India; he meant we may need to bomb China. China?

Cornyn may not be a geography whiz, but just because both China and India have the letters “I”, “N” and “A” in them, doesn’t mean they are interchangeable as potential bombing sites for the United States military.

The Bomb Brouhaha started when Cornyn did a TV interview defending production of the F-22 bomber – an Obama administration effort that was passed by the Senate – because it is “important to our national security because we’re not just fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.” OK, that makes sense so far.

He went on to say that “we have graver threats and greater threats than that. from a rising India with increased exercise of their military power; Russia; Iran that’s threatening to build a nuclear weapon; with North Korea shooting intercontinental ballistic missiles, capable of hitting American soil.”

We may need to bomb Russia, Iran, North Korea and …. India?

The media in India immediately picked up this slip and ran national news stories asking why a top U.S. Senator was calling India a national security threat and possible target for bombing.

Crisis communication ensued on Capitol Hill with Cornyn’s spokesman Kevin McLaughlin sending this statement to the Times of India: ”Senator Cornyn misspoke saying ‘India’ when he meant to say ‘China.’”

To be fair, it was not a Freudian slip; Sen. Cornyn does not want to bomb India and is one of the biggest proponents of US-India relations in the Senate.

His spokesman told the paper that “As founder and co-chairman of the Senate India Caucus, no Senator has greater respect or admiration for India or values our relationship with them more. Sen. Cornyn regrets the mistake and apologizes for any misunderstanding this may have caused.”

OK, so we are clear now that Cornyn does not think we should bomb India and he knows the difference between China and India. But, what was he thinking when in a clear mind called for the possible bombing of China? Since when are we considering bombing China?

Republicans are the party of national security, and as such, we really need to make sure we know which country is in the axis of evil and which is an ally, and we need to tone down the calls for bombing everyone.

Last week, during the Senate debate over production of the F-22, Sen. Cornyn put out a statement saying, “I believe putting U.S.-made F-22s – the most capable fighter jets in the world – in the hands of friendly forces and on the very doorsteps of North Korea or Iran would have a chilling effect on the propensity of those nations to make war.”

We are already literally fighting a two-front war against terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our national security is threatened by the other “axis of evil countries”- North Korea and Iran.

We really don’t have the time or manpower to be picking any more fights with big powers like India and China, even if they both have the letters “I”, “N” and “A” in their names.

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