McCain's "Gaffe"

I'm sure someone has made this point already, but John McCain's repeated claim that Iran is training and equipping al Qaeda terrorists was not a misstatement. Rather, it was a case of John McCain making a standard, deceptive neoconservative claim a little too explicitly.

As I've repeatedly pointed out at this blog, the Bush administration and its surrogates have, for quite a long time now, been trying to convince the American public that Iran is actively supporting al Qaeda and other Sunni militants in Iraq, who are responsible for the vast majority of American casualties. The goal is to draw a direct link between Iran and American casualties and thereby increase public support for military action against Iran.

The problem, of course, is that Iran is a Shiite country and it simply makes no sense that it would be funding, training, and arming Sunni militants in Iraq. To the extent Iran is aiding anyone in Iraq, it is Shiite militants, most of whom are affiliated with the Iraqi government which we installed.

In an attempt to gloss over this problematic distinction, the administration has repeatedly asserted--without any further explanation--that Iran is arming "extremists" in Iraq, a claim that may literally be true but is clearly intended to convey the false impression that Iran and al Qaeda are somehow in cahoots.

McCain's mistake was that he stated explicitly something which he was only supposed to imply. That's why Joe Lieberman--who is very familiar with neoconservative talking points--stepped in to correct him. Notice that Lieberman didn't correct McCain by pointing out that Iran is actually aiding Shiite militants. Rather he whispered the administration-approved fudge word: "extremists."

Senator Straight Talk indeed.