U.S. President Joe Biden slipped up Tuesday, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin is losing the war in Iraq.
Putin, of course, is actually carrying out a full-scale invasion in Ukraine — not the Middle Eastern country which the U.S. and its allies invaded in 2003.
Answering questions from reporters on Putin, Biden said: “It’s hard to tell but he’s clearly losing the war in Iraq.”
“He’s losing the war at home, and he has become a bit of a pariah around the world,” Biden added. “And it’s not just NATO. It’s not just the European Union. It’s Japan. It’s, you know, 40 nations,” referring to the opposition against Putin.
Biden’s comments come less than a week after Putin saw Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin lead an aborted rebellion against the Russian military establishment. He approached Moscow with a column of tanks before he stood down and was exiled to Belarus.
Biden has a long track record of gaffes and misspeaking. In recent months, he referred to the famous New Zealand All Blacks rugby team as the Black and Tans — confusing the sports champions with an infamous British military unit. He mixed up Rishi Sunak’s job title, addressing the British prime minister as Mr. President.
