When a Surge Is Not a Surge

Following up on Joe's comments from the other day -- and on the hubbub McCain's comments have caused in the blogosphere -- allow me to present two widely divergent responses to the idea that the "so-called 'surge'" inculcated/encouraged/allowed the "Anbar Awakening." First, McCain says when he said "surge" he didn't mean "surge," he meant “a counter-insurgency strategy." And since Army Col. Sean MacFarland started carrying out elements of counterinsurgency strategy as early as December 2006 -- the pre-surge surge? -- then, voila! The surge spurred the Anbar Awakening! The problem with this argument is that "the surge" is not, as I'm sure McCain would agree, a technical term. (The McCain camp once howled at Obama referring to leaving a "strike force" in Iraq exactly for its lack of a specific military meaning.) McCain himself... [read full story]