Bomb, bomb Iran?

John McCain's gaffe about an Iran-al-Qaida connection revealed how he and his hard-line allies are itching to target the mullahs next.

By Joe Conason
Salon.com

March 21, 2008 | When John McCain, speaking at a press conference in Amman, Jordan, on Tuesday, accused Iran of harboring and training al-Qaida terrorists, he apologized as soon as Joe Lieberman loudly whispered in his ear that he had uttered a blooper. He withdrew that remark and noted that while the Iranian government is training other "Islamic extremists" across the border, that does not mean they are involved with al-Qaida in Iraq.

Being McCain, he did not have to worry about the cable networks playing the videotape of his mistaken comments on an endless loop. Confused as he may be, his friends in the national press corps are not about to expose him to ridicule. But now his own campaign seems to be withdrawing his self-correction and apology, at least in part -- and insisting that the Iranians indeed do maintain connections with al-Qaida in Iraq.

Given McCain's dangerous preference for force over diplomacy, especially in the Mideast, this is not a minor matter. (He wasn't really kidding when he sang "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran ...") By suggesting that the Iranians are aiding al-Qaida, the Arizona senator and his neoconservative allies are building a case for strikes against Tehran and perhaps even "regime change," just as similar allegations, since proved false, were deployed to justify the invasion of Iraq.

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