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Grasping At Straws

Ilan Goldenberg of the National Security Network claims that, in an interview yesterday, Joe Lieberman said:

If we did what Sen. Obama wanted us to do last year, Al-Qaeda in Iran would be in control of Iraq today.

Goldenberg is apparently a believer in the meme that Sunnis and Shia's can never work together, exclaiming "There's no such thing as Al Qaeda in Iran!"  Never mind the fact that the 9/11 Commission actually did find extensive ties between Al Qaeda and Iran (in that several of the hijackers passed through Iran in the months leading up to the attack, that "Iran made a concerted effort to strengthen relations with Al Qaeda after the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole," that Iran harbored Al Qaeda members after the fall of the Taliban, etc. etc.), what Lieberman actually said was "Al-Qaeda and Iran." Watch the interview here.

Goldenberg cites Jane Hamsher, of the liberal blog firedoglake, as his source for this amazing find. She's a reliable figure on matters involving Lieberman, having once doctored a photo of the Connecticut Senator in blackface. So I'm sure she would never distort something as pedantic as this. Apparently the credulosphere isn't just illiterate when it comes to terrorism, but the English language as well.

Update: The transcript of the interview is here. Perhaps Goldenberg and Hamsher will correct their mistakes.

--James Kirchick