Ask Me Help Desk - McCain Gets History of the Surge WRONG!

McCain Gets History Of The Surge Wrong, CBS Doesn't Air Footage

McCain bellyached for months on how the media was supposedly biased against his campaign, and yet it was CBS that chose to look the other way recently, perhaps in pity. Why should the media take it easy on John McCain when he blasts Obama and everybody else on Iraq issues in claims of military experience and knowledge, but yet he states the most incorrect information?

McCain 'wrong' on Iraq: MSNBC, others: The Swamp

Buck Naked Politics: McCain on the Surge: Deliberate Distortion, Memory Failure, or Reckless Disregard for Facts?

On the Surge and the Awakening, McCain Doesn't Know What He's Talking About - The Washington Independent - U.S. news and politics - washingtonindependent.com

The ah reason um McCain said that is um because he doesn't ah think before he um opens his mouth. Maybe if he thought um a little bit about his ah answers he could ah get the um correct information out.

This is from Fred Kagan at NRO last year :

Quote:

Anbar and the Surge The tribal leaders in Anbar began to turn against al Qaeda in Iraq last year, largely due to unspeakable atrocities committed by the terrorists against their own hosts. Many analysts and observers have seized upon this fact to argue that the movement in Anbar had nothing to do with the surge, began before the surge did, and would continue even without the surge. This argument is invalid. Anbari tribal leaders did begin to turn against AQI in their areas last year before the surge began, but not before Colonel Sean MacFarland began to apply in Ramadi the tactics and techniques that are the basis of the current strategy in Baghdad. His soldiers and Marines fought tenaciously to establish a foothold in Anbar's capital, which was then a terrorist stronghold, and thereby demonstrated to the local leaders that they could count on American support as they began to fight their erstwhile allies. Even so, the movement proceeded slowly and fitfully for most of 2006 and, indeed, into 2007. But when Colonel John Charlton's brigade relieved MacFarland's in Ramadi and was joined by two additional Marine battalions (part of the surge) elsewhere in Anbar, the “awakening” began to accelerate very rapidly. At the start of 2007 there were only a handful of Anbaris in the local security forces. By the summer there were over 14,000. Before the surge, Ramadi was one of the most dangerous cities in Iraq; now it is possible for Americans to walk through its market with limited security details and without body armor. David Kilcullen describes the relationship between the surge and the movement very well in his Small Wars Journal posting, and I have also addressed the issue in detail in a recent Weekly Standard article . The fact is that neither the surge nor the turn of the tribal leaders would in itself have been enough to turn Anbar around — both were necessary, and will remain so for some time.

Frederick W. Kagan on Bush in Iraq on National Review Online=

The truth is that without the surge the Sunni revolt against AQ would've gone no where. Like I said in previous postings ;the surge gave support for fence sitters in Iraq who did not like the "insurgency " but were afraid to oppose it because the US
was showing a lack of resolve.

McCain however ;does take too much credit for the surge. It was President Bush who took the politcal risk and McCain who later hitched his wagon on for the ride.

Um... Tom... the candidate... uh... your candidate's proclaimed strong point... um... and he gave incorrect information... uh... again.

Uh... I'm going to get... uh... my oxygen bottle... um... sit down in my rocking chair... and... uh... read a book... I approved this message... um... John McCain.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BABRAM

Um...Tom...the candidate...uh...your candidate's proclaimed strong point...um...and he gave incorrect information...uh...again.

Uh...I'm going to get...uh...my oxygen bottle...um...sit down in my rocking chair...and...uh....read a book...I approved this message...um...John McCain.

I don't any reports of him needing oxygen when he hiked the Grand Canyon with his son last August. Maybe he should invite Obama on the same hike. Obama can bring his adoring entourage and they can have their town hall discussions on the way up.

This is from another Kagan article written for the Weekly Standard. . It again points out the clear undeniable fact that it was the fact that American troops stayed after a clearing operation that made the Anbar Awakening a success. The Anbar Awakening had a snowballs chance in hell of success wthout the US determined commitment call "the surge" .

Quote:

One of the first questions Iraqis ask when American forces move into AQI strongholds to fight the takfiris is: Are you going to stay this time? In the past, coalition forces have cleared takfiri centers, often with local help, but have departed soon after, leaving the locals vulnerable to vicious AQI retaliation. This pattern created a legacy of distrust, and a concomitant hesitancy to commit to backing coalition forces.
This cycle was broken first in Anbar, for three reasons: The depth of AQI's control there led the group to commit some of its worst excesses in its attempt to hold on to power; the strength of the tribal structures in the province created the possibility of effective local resistance when the mood swung against the takfiris; and the sustained presence and determination of soldiers and Marines in the province gave the locals hope of assistance once they began to turn against the terrorists.

Al Qaeda In Iraq

I know Anderson Cooper was breathless when he announced to the world that McCain had in his words made a gaffe. I know Keith Olberman panted in delight and Chris Matthews felt a tingle in his legs... but they are wrong.

Maybe McCain could right an op-ed for the NY Slimes to defend his position... oh wait... never mind... they would never print it.

Maybe the press if they were being fair would air the questions by the troops to BAMA when he was in Iraq " Sir ;Why are you here if we are a distraction ? "

Maybe when they drool over the Messiah they could ask him to respond to his superior judgement about the surge before it happened :

Quote:

I don't think the president's strategy is going to work. We went through two weeks of hearings on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; experts from across the spectrum–military and civilian, conservative and liberal–expressed great skepticism about it. My suggestion to the president has been that the only way we're going to change the dynamic in Iraq and start seeing political commendation is actually if we create a system of phased redeployment. And, frankly, the president, I think, has not been willing to consider that option, not because it's not militarily sound but because he continues to cling to the belief that somehow military solutions are going to lead to victory in Iraq.

He was wrong then and he is wrong now when he diminishes the accomplishments of the troops by claiming it was Sunni tribes and the magnanamous Mookie al-Sadr that made the dynamic changes in Iraq. None of them dare follow up and ask him why he thinks the Shia militias stood down... BECAUSE THEY WERE GETTING THEIR A$$ES KICKED!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomder55

I know Anderson Cooper was breathless when he announced to the world that McCain had in his words made a gaffe. I know Keith Olberman panted in delight and Chris Matthews felt a tingle in his legs.....but they are wrong.

It's on the record. Pope John Sydney McCain I of the Keating Five ministry has the surge history all wrong. He doesn't have the facts straight. Period. You can blame the media all you want, but CBS was nice enough not to embarrass McCain. If McCain didn't run his mouth about how much more military experience and knowledge that he has than everyone else, including his opponent Obama, these things wouldn't come back to bite his supporters in the tuchus. ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by speechlesstx

I don't any reports of him needing oxygen when he hiked the Grand Canyon with his son last August. Maybe he should invite Obama on the same hike. Obama can bring his adoring entourage and they can have their town hall discussions on the way up.

I admit for a man going on 72 years of age soon, body broken from Nam, suspect to skin cancers, and obviously exhausted, he might just make to a town hall meeting. Maybe. :eek:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...n-sleep-tn.jpg