Does this count as a gaffe? Or just a huge difference of opinion. McCain says that Iraq, not Afghanistan, was the first “major conflict” since 9/11.

McCain:

The fact is we had four years of failed policy. We were losing. We were losing the war in Iraq. The consequences of failure and defeat of the United States of America in the first major conflict since 9/11 would have had devastating impacts throughout the region and the world.

In my mind, Afghanistan was a big deal and should have remained a big deal. That’s where the Egyptians and Saudis went for safe harbor as they were developing an organization with which to attack us on 9/11. A fair amount of Afghanistan’s dysfunction had to do with our policies there during the Soviet occupation and our lack of policies there after the Soviet occupation.