Digging a Deeper Hole

John McCain's gaffe yesterday on the history of the Sunni Awakening in Anbar province was pretty clear. He stated that the "surge" allowed U.S. troops to help protect Sunni sheiks in Anbar and allowed the Anbar awakening to begin. As has been pointed out, the Awakening began in 2006 while the "surge" of U.S. troops into Iraq didn't get started until 2007.

McCain didn't back down from that claim today - this from the AP:

It's all a matter of semantics, [McCain] suggested.

McCain said Army Col. Sean MacFarland started carrying out elements of a new counterinsurgency strategy as early as December 2006.

At issue are McCain's comments in a Tuesday interview with CBS. The Arizona senator disputed Democrat Barack Obama's contention that a Sunni revolt against al-Qaida combined with the dispatch of thousands more U.S. combat troops to Iraq to produce the improved security situation there. McCain called that a "false depiction."

McCain asserted he knew that and didn't commit a gaffe. "A surge is really a counterinsurgency made up of a number of components. ... I'm not sure people understand that `surge' is part of a counterinsurgency."

A surge is really a counterinsurgency? That argument isn't going to fly. The word "surge" has always been used to as shorthand referring to President Bush's decision to deploy about 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq in early 2007, the first of which did not arrive in Iraq until later in the spring. By ignoring the fact that a number of important variables combined to help improve the security situation in Iraq in 2007 (Sunni Awakening, Sadr's decision to stand down his militia, the movement of Sunni and Shia in Baghdad into defensible enclaves), the McCain campaign is ignoring important facts, and distorting the historical record.

McCain said that the surge of troops in 2007 "began the Anbar awakening" in 2006. McCain is the one using a "false depiction" in a misguided attempt to score political points. In case his campaign didn't notice, Democrats aren't running away from foreign policy or national security anymore. Bring it on.

Comments

[XME]

This has been McCain's MO from day one: if he makes a serious gaffe, don't own up to it...just restate the facts in a way that support what he originally stated, true or not. Sad thing is that many "low info" voters will never know the difference. Especially since the MSM tends to completely ignore all of his many, MANY errors. Seems their goal is to support his claims that he's the one to be trusted with foreign matter, and to make it seem like he actually knows what he's talking about.

[Insearchoftruth]

McCain is showing us that he will frequently loss facts, forget facts, create facts, misrepresent facts and while doing so....loss his temper and say things, do things, unbecoming. Yesterday much was made of the NBC survey indicating that BO is perceived as riskier. Given the intellectual and emotional instability McCain has displayed , voters must imagine his finger on the most awesome military machine the world has every known. A machine that has spent the last generation building a capacity to strike anywhere in the world in minutes. McCain's behavior is not funny, it is disqualifying!

[4President]

This one was dead today. He is allowed to say anything that occurs along the American-Iraqi-Pakistani-Guam border if successful is due to the Surge surge.

Where is Bush on this. Will he dare try to rescue his comrade?

[Xenopus]

I thought McCain said he was the architect of the Surge. Now he says it was part of a counterinsurgency as planned by Army Col. Sean MacFarland. I thought it was something the Bush Administration did to keep the war going and to give time to the Iraqi Government to meet the Benchmarks they kept saying they would meet, but never did. The Surge seems to morph in purpose just like the War itself did from WMDs to Democracy to terrorists. Bush and McCain seem to have a new view of the situation everytime the wind blows.

[4President]

Yeah, so if Gen. McFarland is to get credit, why is McCain even talking about this anymore?

It's all so silly anyway. The fixed the meals being served in Iraq too. Surge?