McCain rewrites history to bolster "the surge"
I don't know when McCain will have to walk back the statement in the video below but he WILL have to walk it back before the election, you can count on it. In the video below, McCain claims that it was because of the surge that the "Sunni Awakening" was able to happen. For those not soooo deep in the weeds, the "Sunni Awakening" or "The Awakening" was when the sheiks of the various Sunni factions in Iraq decided that they wanted AQI (Al-Qaida in Iarq) out of their communities. To that end, they started to filter information about AQI to coalition and Iraqi forces to get them out. McCain claims that the surge gave the sheiks the protection they needed to make this happen... the only problem is that this "Sunni Awakening" began in earnest in summer and fall of 2006; months before Bush 2.0 even announced the surge and more months still before the surge soldiers were on the ground in Iraq. What we will never know is if the combined developments of Al Sadr's cease fire and the "Sunni Awakening" would have decreased the violence even without our troop surge but for this post, that is not the point. The point is that McCain is rewriting history... and as Ilan Goldernberg blogs at Huffpost, this isn't a just a gaffe like saying Iraq borders Pakistan (which McCain just said recently), this is a fundamental misunderstanding of our conflict in Iraq. Thinkprogress has the historical details that will eventually force McCain to walk this rewriting of history back. McCain needs Obama back in the U.S. so he can focus on him instead of making comments like this:
UPDATE: McCain cancels only press conference of the week... I wonder why? All you have to do is read the above in addition to, as Ben Smith of the Politico notes, "whether he meant that Obama was deliberately selling out the country; whether he shares his campaign's grievance with the press; or what he thinks of his staff's genocide-themed attack." McCain and his camp needs to answer these questions within themselves before they put him in front of any more cameras.
UPDATE II: The AP is reporting that McCain says that "the surge" was made up of many different components, some of which took place before "the surge" was even announced. McCain says that some things began in December of 2006... which still doesn't come close to explaining his "Sunni Awakening" comment below. Nice try Senator... we'll be hearing more on this shortly, I'm sure.
UPDATE: McCain cancels only press conference of the week... I wonder why? All you have to do is read the above in addition to, as Ben Smith of the Politico notes, "whether he meant that Obama was deliberately selling out the country; whether he shares his campaign's grievance with the press; or what he thinks of his staff's genocide-themed attack." McCain and his camp needs to answer these questions within themselves before they put him in front of any more cameras.
UPDATE II: The AP is reporting that McCain says that "the surge" was made up of many different components, some of which took place before "the surge" was even announced. McCain says that some things began in December of 2006... which still doesn't come close to explaining his "Sunni Awakening" comment below. Nice try Senator... we'll be hearing more on this shortly, I'm sure.
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