The details of high-security trips by politicians are usually kept quiet, many times arriving in another country before anyone here knows. So did McCain blow Obama’s cover on his Iraq trip? Ben Smith says yes.

Obama, you may have noticed, doesn’t have a public schedule today. The press generally respects campaigns’ and officials’ security concerns, when voiced.

So Josh Marshall is probably right to raise an eyebrow that John McCain — of all people — just said, at a fundraiser, that Obama would be in Iraq with other senators this weekend.

Ironically, McCain and the GOP have been demanding for months that Obama go to Iraq; his comment may have made the trip slightly more complicated.

His comment was reported by Reuters.

It was, as Ben Smith notes, not intentional. In fact, here was what John McCain actually said at the time:

“I believe that either today or tomorrow — and I’m not privy to his schedule — Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators” who make up a congressional delegation, McCain said at a Republican fund-raiser.

McCain’s campaign spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan insisted to reporters later: “He doesn’t know when he’s going. He’s not privy to that information. He was speaking in broader terms, about when Obama does land in Iraq.”

As Smith also notes:

And some hints as to the timing of the trip had already leaked out elsewhere in the media — the Wall Street Journal mentioned a coming trip, and Andrea MItchell said on “Morning Joe” today that he’d be in Iraq “shortly.”

Take note, by the way, that the comment was made to a private Republican fund-raiser. What was the media’s response? To report Obama’s (supposed) travel dates to the world. Brilliant.

Update: TPM’s Josh Marshall:

It’s known that Obama is leaving on his foreign trip this weekend and the Journal OpEd page this morning said that Obama could arrive in Iraq “as early as this weekend.” And with a slew of reporters in tow, it’s not exactly highly classified information. But there is a reason definite information about these sorts of trips aren’t released in advance.