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Last week Senator McCain was challenged for his supposed lack of knowledge about the “surge” timetable in Iraq. What is the “surge”? Defined loosely as the point when more than 20,000 American troops were deployed to Iraq, it cannot be narrowed down to one specific date. President Bush announced the plan in January 2007, began the Iraqi-led initiative to secure Baghdad in February 2007 and had 28,000 additional American troops in place in Baghdad in June 2007. There is planning and strategy, presentation to the congress and/or President, selection of troops and actually placing those men and women in the region. To suggest that the “surge” date is narrowly defined as one day, the time when some 28,000 troops were actually in Iraq, is absurd and factually untrue. When Senator McCain speaks of the “surge”, he considers all of these facts and has used dates reflective of the whole process. Because of some in the media’s preference for Senator Obama, the emphasis to refer to the “surge” as June 2007 exclusively limits the success of the “surge”, does not acknowledge progress in Iraq and keeps the Republican fumbling to explain the obvious as in the following quote: “I don't know how you respond to something that is as-- such a false depiction of what actually happened. Colonel MacFarland 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. I mean, that's just a matter of history.” The “Anbar Awakening” is dated from June 2006 to February 2007. Certainly, this overlaps the whole “surge” process. Senator Obama has consistently said he was against the war, which is good, but has been hesitant to concede that the “surge” has been successful. His resistance is understandable but not challenged by a media who supports his victory. If McCain wants “points” for supporting the “surge,” which seems to be working, he must either convey to the American people the specific timeline of the complete process – from conversation to actual troops on the ground (hardly one day) – or accept the June 2007 date and consistently demonstrate how the “surge” has been successful.
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