Every once in a while, Joe gets too honest. We haven't heard much from him since the early days. Perhaps this is why.
[Vice President Joe] Biden's comments on Thursday came during a question-and-answer session at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Biden said that "our biggest problem is our allies" who are engaged in a proxy Sunni-Shiite war against Syrian President Bashar Assad. He specifically named Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
"What did they do? They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad - except that the people who were being supplied were (Jabhat) al-Nusra and al-Qaida and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world," Biden said at the time.
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Biden on Sunday called the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates to clarify that he did not mean to imply in his remarks last week that the Gulf ally was supporting al-Qaida fighters in Syria, the White House said.
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The White House said Biden clarified his remarks and recognized the UAE's "strong steps" to counter extremists and participation in U.S.-led airstrikes against Islamic State militants.
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It was the second time in two days that Biden had to call a key partner in President Barack Obama's coalition to walk back comments he made on Thursday.
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On Saturday, Biden already called to apologize to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the White House said in an earlier statement.
"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," the White House said.
AP
He certainly did imply that, and it was especially accusatory since he blamed the supply of weaponry on “our allies”, leaving us out of the equation, and calling it “our biggest problem.”
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