Gary Johnson Says 'Glaring Double Standard' Kept Hillary Clinton’s Mosul 'Mistake' From Being an Aleppo Moment:

  • Hillary Clinton gave a disputable description of the location of Mosul, the largest city held by the Islamic State group, during Wednesday’s final major-party presidential debate, but pundits and the press did not pounce.

    In contrast to the intense news coverage of Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson’s moment of confusion about Aleppo, Syria, during an MSNBC interview last month, Clinton’s arguable misstatement about the major Iraqi city attracted just a handful of tweets.

    “What's really important here is to understand all the interplay. Mosul is a Sunni city. Mosul is on the border of Syria,” the Democratic nominee told a domestic audience of about 70 million during the debate made memorable by bitter barbs and insults.

    Mosul is not directly on the border with Syria, which is about 100 miles to the west or 75 miles northwest to the nearest border crossing. Ireland is closer to Wales. Montreal is nearer to New York state and Damascus, Syria’s capital, is closer to Israel – either its de facto or internationally recognized borders.

    “The obvious response is there is a very hypocritical double standard here,” Johnson tells U.S. News. “If anyone ought to know geographic locations, it’s Hillary.”