Limbaugh falsely claimed Biden "wanted to split Iraq into three different countries by ethnic lines"

On the August 28 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh falsely claimed that Sen. Joe Biden "wanted to split Iraq into three different countries by ethnic lines." Limbaugh went on to say, "That would have created a civil war. He did not want to win." In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted, Biden introduced a "five-point plan" to "[m]aintain a unified Iraq by decentralizing it and giving Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis breathing room in their own regions." The plan also states that "[t]he Iraqi constitution already provides for federalism" and that "[t]he central government would be responsible for common interests, like border security and the distribution of oil revenues."

From the August 28 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: Should we trust Biden's judgment? Biden was against the surge. Biden voted for the war, but he tried -- he voted for not funding the troops a couple of times. [Sen. John] McCain never ever said stay there indefinitely. What McCain was talking about was you set a timeline for getting out of there before we win this thing, and it's going to be a bloodbath after we leave, and he was exactly right. [Sen. Barack] Obama has no judgment on this. Obama has no involvement in this. Obama hasn't chaired one committee hearing on this. This was at a 100 percent manufactured lie and story, and he blew it within his own convention by suggesting, ladies and gentlemen, that we need to send two more combat brigades, battalions -- whatever he said -- to Afghanistan.

The purpose for this, by the way, is to cement in the eyes of as many people as possible that [President] Bush screwed up, that Afghanistan's always been the focus. Going into Iraq was a waste of time. And let's not forget what old Joe's proposal here was for Iraq. He wanted to partition it. He wanted to split Iraq into three different countries by ethnic lines. That would have created a civil war. He did not want to win. Obama did not want to win. They were both invested in defeat. That's what they wanted. So did [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi [D-CA] and so did [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid [D-NV]. They wanted the defeat of their own country. They wanted the defeat of the United States of America.

And how about these insults of his good friend McCain? I mean, it's one thing to be critical of McCain, but these are personal attacks on McCain's judgment that the American people do not share, and that those that follow all these things know Biden really doesn't mean it because Biden has done nothing but laud McCain up until the time he's been nominated. He would -- no, I did not hear any [Sen. John] Kerry. I just read about some of Kerry. I didn't want to hear it. I don't -- I told Cookie I don't want any sound bites from John Kerry. I don't want -- been there, done that. Been there -- this was enough. This and Clinton was more than I could handle.

—G.L.