McCain wrong about the Surge

I had heard of the Anbar Province in Iraq. That was the extent of my knowledge. I did not know it was the largest province in Iraq, geographically. I didn't know what it had to do with the surge. I didn't know much about the surge except that it involved sending thousands more troops to Iraq.

McCain claims to be an expert in foreign relations. He claims to know all about Iraq. He has made a number of comments about the effectiveness of the surge in reducing violence in that country. He has been a "champion" of the surge. He would have the American people know he has "expert" knowledge about the surge.

Not really. The Huffington Post reports that in an interview with Katie Couric on CBS on Tuesday, McCain once again exposed himself as a dummy. Couric asked him about Obama's statement in which he said that "while the increased number of troops contributed to increased security in Iraq... there might have been improved security even without the surge."

McCain said, "I don't know how you respond to something that is as--such a false depiction of what actually happened. Colonel MacFarland was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks. Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening. I mean, that's just a matter of history."


Sorry John. Wrong again. "In fact, as Spencer Ackerman and Ilan Goldenberg have noted, the record firmly establishes the opposite: instead of being caused by the surge, the first, key signs of the Anbar Awakening occurred not only before that strategy was implemented, but before it was ever conceived."

The Huffington Post says "that the military official cited by McCain, then-Colonel Sean MacFarland, described the Anbar Awakening in September 2006 -- four months before the "surge" was even announced -- noting that tribal leaders were 'stepping forward and cooperating with the Iraqi security forces against al Qaeda.' Moreover, a military review written by MacFarland notes that his unit actually left Anbar before most of the surge troops arrived; his success in the region came between June 2006 and February 2007."


A very interesting fact is that McCain's doofus answer to Couric was never seen. Keith Olbermann noted that "CBS curiously, to say the least, left it on the edit room floor. It aired Katie Couric's question, but in response, it aired part of McCain's answer to the other question instead."

Nothing like having the media in your pocket, hey John? And you're complaining about Obama being given "special" treatment by the media?

The very worst part of all this is that the Repugnican nominee is an ignorant man with a faulty memory. On top of that he is not a nice man.

You can read more here.