Mitt Romney: McCain Invented Counterinsurgency Doctrine

Tin-plated fraud-bot Mitt Romney, who would say just about anything to get the nomination, has been out recently demonstrating that he'd say just about anything to get selected as the vice presidential nominee. And today, Romney took the nation on a mind-bending tilt-a-whirl ride into historical revisionism, telling Mika Brzezinski that John McCain, "after all, was the person who authored some time ago the philosophy that said a surge would work in Iraq."

Via TPM, here's the video:

Naturally, this is nonsense. McCain had long lobbied for additional troops to be sent to Iraq, but he in no way had a hand in the design of the "Surge" strategy. The closest John McCain came to participating in the "authoring of the philosophy" of the Surge was his involvement in a January 5, 2007 panel at the American Enterprise Institute. There, McCain and Sen. Joe Lieberman took second billing, providing the panel with their reflections from a recently concluded "fact-finding mission" to Iraq. Headlining the event, however, were the two men that actually did author the "Surge" doctrine, Frederick W. Kagan and General Jack Keane (ret.).

As Josh Marshall notes, Romney's comment "also dovetails nicely with the escalating cult of personality over McCain and the 'Surge.'" Yes, the Surge, whose successes are every bit as relevant as the "successful touchdown drive that the Washington Redskins completed last season in a game they lost 52-7.

Of course, a big difference between the Iraq War and a football game is that the Iraq War was a war of choice, a strategy that was supposed to yield several gains in national security, such as the removal of an imminent threat, the pacifying of bad regimes in the region, and an overall spread of democracy throughout the Middle East. And once you put aside the Potemkin "success" of the "Surge," you are left with a strategy that not only failed to deliver on its promised goals, but paved the way for seven years of de facto appeasement toward the terrorists who attacked America.

Hence, the value of Romney's meretricious distraction.

Comments

[calchala]

And here is Romney contradicting himself in a debate with McCain:

Look at 4:28 in, and find out who Romney said "created" the surge.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/22832381#22832381

[LeftLeanWing]

good find !

[beaupritchard]

Good seeing Tim again ... sadness is

[BPCentrisAmerican]

Where did they find this guy, Sharper Image, is he one of those robots, made in Japan, is he programmable or do you wined him up, are Mitt dolls for sale? When Mitt was governor of Mass. He ran as a pro-choice, moderate independent, against the Regan legacy. He has flipped so much he re-minds me of a Small Mouth Bass bouncing around the bottom of my rowboat.

As for the so-called Surge, it’s a tactic, not a strategy created by Frederick Kagan a neo-con AEI think tanker, along with the Pentagon. Tactic meaning as in a troop escalation to help bring about a political agreement between Iraqi interest groups in terms of revenue sharing, governance and security. This is called a strategy. As to date this has not happened yet, the Iraqis are not going to privatize their oil, and the neo-con dream of a free market utopia in Iraq has little chance of coming to fruition. These are the hard numbers, pre-surge 136,000 troops, surge 160,000 troops, currently 150,000 troops, that’s not progress and the troop levels are not sustainable. Bowering the money to maintain this, is devaluing the dolor driving up the cost of imports including oil. The Surge was designed for us to stay, not to leave, until Bush leaves office, passing off the mess to the next administration. If McCain wants to call the Surge a victory in the past tense, than I suggest it’s time to go.

[Soothsayer08]

Romney is so pathetic that he will say or do anything to get the VP spot. As a person from Massachusetts that endured 4 years of Romney as governor, I know all to well that what "Slick Willard" says while he is campaigning and what he actually does after being elected are 2 completely different things. He touted that his success as a Venture Capitalist would enable him to bring companies into Massachusetts and create more jobs. Instead, the state lost jobs. His universal insurance plan requires people to have health insurance or they lose their personal tax exemption and pay a fine. Romney is strictly in favor of helping big business. His only thought is the bottom line, and privatizing everything. He wanted to privatize the mass transit system but the Legislature wouldn't allow it.
He was also responsible for the raid on a leather goods factory that employed illegals. He had the factory raided and deported women and they could not even pick up their children from daycare. Kids that were in school at the time came home to their parents gone. Then he was exposed as a liar that had hired illegal to do yard work at his own home.
The man is as phony as a $2 bill.

[rcozad]

This could be interesting, let's see if the MSM treats this like Gore "INVENTING" the internet!

[Marlyn]

rcozad, you still have faith in the MSM?

[Soothsayer08]

Romney is so pathetic that he will say or do anything to get the VP spot. As a person from Massachusetts that endured 4 years of Romney as governor, I know all to well that what "Slick Willard" says while he is campaigning and what he actually does after being elected are 2 completely different things.
He touted that his success as a Venture Capitalist would enable him to bring companies into Massachusetts and create more jobs. Instead, the state lost jobs. His universal insurance plan requires people to have health insurance or they lose their personal tax exemption and pay a fine. Romney is strictly in favor of helping big business. His only thought is the bottom line, and privatizing everything. He wanted to privatize the mass transit system but the Legislature wouldn't allow it.

He was also responsible for the raid on a leather goods factory that employed illegals. He had the factory raided and deported women and they could not even pick up their children from daycare. Kids that were in school at the time came home to their parents gone. Then he was exposed as a liar that had hired illegal to do yard work at his own home.
The man is as phony as a $2 bill.

[rcozad]

Actually there is a two dollar bill, I think you mean $3 bill

[majorteddy]

Mitt Romney, another Republican, another day, another big lie.

[CranialRectalLoopback]

Did the "crack" reporter ask Romney where that document is that McStain authored? On a completely SIMILAR note, if Bush listens to the commanders on the ground, how can bush mis-manage the war? It seems that the commands on the ground, to whom Bush listened, mis-managed the war. If McStain listen's to the commanders on the ground, then wouldn't the commanders on the ground be the authors of the Surge?

Just some questions from an elitist, looking for a little straight talk. Oh yeah, it was Willard, "my sons fought for me here so they didn't have to fight for you there", Romney.

[KELLI2L]

I don't recall who first thought of and suggested the surge, but it was the necessary thing to do - unless you weren't serious about WINNING. . . .

[only1Demvoter]

kell itool : You weren't.

Otherwise your ilk would have sought out the ' actual ' perpetrators.


-ralph

[oncethere]

Winning is not the right word here. This is not a win-lose situation. That Repubs use it all the time is a sign of their basically adolescent view of the world. Who can forget Bush's "Victory Tour," where he basked in his "victory" over Saddam Hussein.

[madron]

The surge was a failure...Bush is a failure....seven and one half years of total failure....

[poco767b]

There is no winning, just varying degrees of losing

[tsloan]

republicans should try reality-based initiatives for once.

[only1Demvoter]

ts : That'll be the day...


-ralph

[rwe2late]

We should all reflect on the alleged "success" of the surge.

The "surge" is nothing more than flooding a country with occupation troops. With 150,000 soldiers, another 100,000 or so "contractors", and off-shore support from naval and air force, the US employs about ONE SOLDIER FOR EVERY 23 IRAQI MALES above the age of14! And that is based on estimates of the Iraqi population BEFORE some millions were displaced, driven out of the country, killed, wounded, or imprisoned.
City neighborhoods have been sealed and walled off in a manner reminiscient of concentration camps and ghettos. Cities have been bombed by rockets and planes, and bombarded by artillery.
The destruction has been great. Lack of food, water, electricity, schools, hospitals, doctors, jobs have been created and continue under the occupation.
The "enemy" has come to be defined as "insurgents" who resist the US foreign occupation.
Should the US withdraw, the puppet government would collapse, and that is the true concern of the neoCONs, not more "bloodshed".
Anti-US sentiment from the occupation has multiplied throughout the world.
The US domestic economy has been neglected to finance war profiteers, and our freedoms compromised to silence war opposition, not "protect" us.

Thus do the Orwellian neoCONs define "success". (Now, if they could only get those oil contracts?)

[2008WakingFromaNightmare]

I think I saw somewhere else that today Romney said McCain discovered fire and invented the wheel.

[Johnniedog]

Why is it that we are letting the Republicans get away with saying the surge is working? They imply that the increase in troops is the reason violence in Iraq has been quelled when, in fact, the prime mover in the succession of violence has been because we are paying Sadr and his Shia Militia and the Sunni insurgents to "NOT KILL US". The plain fact of the matter is that we are paying these people about 55 Billion per year to lay down their weapons and stop the killing.

When you think about it, it is Extortion in reverse. Instead of these thugs coming to us and saying "We will stop killing Americans if you pay us 55 Billion Dollars", we went to them and said "We will pay you 55 Billion Dollars if you stop killing us". The number of Troops is not relevent to the decrease in Violence, but, rather the pay for peace Blackmail scheme that the Government has devised.

Why can't we get the so-called Journalists to report this fact? Better yet, why can't the Democrats use these facts to fight back on the News shows?

[gintheb]

"Did you come Senator? Can I be the vice president now?"

[HopeandChange]

I thought the surge wasn't working Huff and Puffers? If it isn't working, why wouldn't you want McCain to take the blame?

[c0marts]

The surge was nothing more than sending in additional troops. Many people suggested the Comander in Chief do this back when we invaded Iraq. Bush, Cheney, and Rummy would have no part of it; shock and awe were all that was needed, they said at the time.

[MegInPA]

So by HIS philosophy, anyone who has fought overseas is more qualified to lead this country at time of war than someone who hasn't? Really? So I guess he voted for John Kerry in 2004 then, right?