The Blog @ Spolitics

Liberal Blogger and TV Host Unfit to Opine

by Heywood U. Reedmore -- July 24, 2008 at 5:06 pm | In 2008 Election | No Comments

In an interview with CBS’s Katie Couric, John McCain said the following:

Colonel McFarlane 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.

Unforgivable, says HuffPo’s Ilan Goldenberg:

John McCain made a mistake this evening, which as far as I’m concerned, disqualifies him from being president. It is so appalling and so factually wrong that I’m actually sitting here wondering who McCain’s advisers are. This isn’t some gaffe where he talks about the Iraq-Pakistan border. It’s a real misunderstanding of what has happened in Iraq over the past year.

Keith Olbermann agrees with Goldenberg, both of them citing a quote they claim is Colonel MacFarland “explaining the Anbar Awakening” on September 29, 2006.

If you actually read the quote, though, MacFarland doesn’t mention an “Anbar Awakening” but talks more generally about cooperation between U.S forces and Sunni tribes. That cooperation actually began back in November of 2005.

In September, 2006 Abdul Sattar Abu Risha formed the Anbar Salvation Council — also called the Anbar Awakening Council. However, in March 2007 Abu Risha complained that his group was not as effective as they could be because they were not receiving enough support. At the time many pundits questioned the strategy to support groups like Abu Risha’s arguing it would fuel sectarian violence. It’s worth noting, Obama opposed the surge because he didn’t want U.S. soldiers to “referee a civil war.”

Bush announced the surge in Jan. 2007 and troops were in country by April. On April 20, 2007 Abu Risha announced the formation of a new group — a national party called Iraq Awakening — or what is also referred to as the Sunni Awakening. The group met for the first time in May, 2007.

So, technically, yes, McCain was wrong to say the surge “led” to the “Anbar Awakening.” It’s possible McCain misspoke and meant to say “Sunni Awakening” — the national movement that was formed after the surge. It’s possible he was referring to the larger point that the surge led to growth and success of the Awakening movement. Either way, it’s a reach to claim that he got the history “completely” and “appallingly” wrong. And it’s an absurd stretch to claim it disqualifies him for office. The point stands that if it wasn’t for the surge, this movement would not have produced the results it has produced. The movement needed support from the U.S. and it’s opponents needed reassurance that the movement wouldn’t become an unchecked sectarian army. The surge provided both.

All that said, it was still a stupid thing for McCain to say that the surge protected these sheiks given the fact that Abu Risha was assassinated in September 2007. For two people so desperate to issue snide comments, Goldenberg and Olbermann should be embarrassed that they missed that fact. Perhaps they would have noticed it if they were thinking for themselves and not just simply regurgitating the Obama campaign’s talking points.