It seems that Rachel Maddow is somewhat a grammar nazi. This is how she teased her audience about her show last night. “Boy howdy, is that one robust clerical error. The White House sort of declaring on war on Iran tonight.” The White House originally said, “Iran has a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program that it has tried and failed to hide from the world and from its own people.” They later issued a statement correcting the present tense of “has” to the past tense of “had,” taking away Iran’s chance to engage the United States in war. Oh darn, but there’s always next time. 

How a robust "clerical error" put the U.S. on the brink of war with Iran for an hour or so.#HAD pic.twitter.com/PMRagXZH55

— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) May 1, 2018

“Clerical error”… No, the United States did not accidentally declare war on Iran. That is either stupid or irresponsible; either way, that is not what happened. Has/had is not really the point; It is what to do about behavior that scares their neighbors. Wanna know what wasn’t a clerical error? The military site Iran chose to build in Syria, nor the bombs Israel used to destroy it.

But sure, Ms. Maddow, complain about yellowcake uranium in Africa to deflect from Iran creeping on capabilities to hurt Israel. That apocalyptic grammar alert was really helpful to the overall dialogue the region is trying to have about a neighborhood bully.

Iran has the capability to start making a nuclear weapon at any time but says they are not developing weapons. A fact they spent all of last weekend in America repeating to CBS and at a forum at the Council on Foreign Relations. It doesn’t seem as though Ms. Maddow had time between defending the reputations of Joy Reid and Tom Brokaw to cover those significant events.

Anyhow, if Ms. Maddow had any idea what was going on in Syria she wouldn’t be worried about a [bleeping] clerical error escalating to war with the Iranians. Iranians have clashed with Americans in Syria multiple times. Most clashes with Iran have come in the air, but others occurred by proxy. Most recently, when tribesmen near Deir Ezzor tried to take three villages and also in February when American special forces killed a “couple hundred” Russian mercenaries in the same area.

Furthermore, the escalation isn’t between the United States and Iran, but rather Israel and Iran. When it comes to the United States and Iran, officially, America doesn’t seek engagement; it is only Iran who threatens to attack the US in Iraq and Syria.  A conflict with Israel has been what the Iranians have been seeking since Jimmy Carter was President. Iran is not just in Syria, they are also in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Qatar, and Bahrain, but when those issues are brought up, Iran only wants to talk in terms of the Iran Deal.

Nukes or no nukes, Iran’s neighbors are tired of their constant destabilizing behavior. Israel and Saudi Arabia are not constrained by the Iran Deal and how they choose to handle the situation seems like a regional issue. Rachel Maddow is too smart to be acting so dumb. Be better, this is not a game.