Jay began writing politically themed commentary and founded his blog, Swimming Freestyle, in October 2007. Here he'll write about politics from a progressive perspective.

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Anbar Sheik cited by McCain was assasinated last year

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July 23, 5:49 PM

by Jay McDonough, Progressive Politics Examiner

I almost feel bad for John McCain. In the annals of all time worst weeks, I think the Senator has a shot at the gold. Late last week McCain was suckerpunched when Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki came out, essentially, in favor of Barack Obama's plan for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Yesterday, in his attempt to claim everything that's ever been good in Iraq is a result of the surge, he wrongly asserted the Sunni Awakening had occured as a result of the surge of U.S. troops into Iraq in the spring and summer of 2007. In further defense of the surge, Senator McCain said:

"Colonel MacFarland was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks," said the Senator. "Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening."

The Arizona Republican's campaign went further the next day, claiming that the major figures that turned around Anbar province would have been killed had the surge policy not been in place. "If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda," said spokesman Tucker Bounds. (Link)

As it turns out, the major Sunni sheik responsible for coordinating the Sunni Awakening to turn against al Qaeda in western Iraq, Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, was assasinated in Anbar province by an al Qaeda group in September 2007 - the midst of the U.S. surge.

Oops.

Topics: Anbar , McCain , Iraq , Surge

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Obama's birth certificate; you can't keep a good conspiracy theorist down

8 comments

December 4, 3:24 PM

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The other day I noted a Washington Post op-ed, written by a former interrogator, arguing for an end to the use of torture by American forces. I included this comment:After reading much on the topic, it seems that the great majority of career military... Read More