McCain Denies Misstatement On Iraq Surge

Ariz. Senator Pushes Back Against Criticism Of Comments Made During CBS News Interview

(CBS/ AP)  Republican John McCain pushed back on Wednesday against Democratic criticism that he misstated when the troop buildup ordered by President Bush began, saying elements were put in place before Bush announced the strategy in early 2007.

He told reporters during an unscheduled stop in a super market that, what the Bush administration calls "the surge" was actually "made up of a number of components," some of which began before the president's order for more troops.

It's all a matter of semantics, he suggested.

McCain said Army Col. Sean MacFarland started carrying out elements of a new counterinsurgency strategy as early as December 2006.

At issue are McCain's comments in a Tuesday interview with CBS News. The Arizona senator disputed Democrat Barack Obama's contention that a Sunni revolt against al Qaeda combined with the dispatch of thousands more U.S. combat troops to Iraq to produce the improved security situation there. McCain called that a "false depiction."

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CBS News anchor Katie Couric spoke exclusively Tuesday to Barack Obama in Amman and to McCain via satellite.
Click to see the full transcript of Couric's interview with Obama | Full video.
Click to see the full transcript of Couric's interview with McCain | Full video.

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Democrats jumped on his comments. They said McCain's remarks showed he was out of touch, because the rebellion of U.S.-backed Sunni sheiks against al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq's Anbar province was under way well before Bush announced in January 2007 his decision to send 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq.

McCain asserted he knew that and didn't commit a gaffe. "A surge is really a counterinsurgency made up of a number of components. ... I'm not sure people understand that `surge' is part of a counterinsurgency."

Speaking on CBS Tuesday of a Sunni sheik who approached Col. MacFarland, McCain said, "Because of the surge, we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening."

On Wednesday McCain continued to try to portray his opponent as naive on Iraq while the Illinois Democrat is visiting the war zone, the Middle East and Europe.

"I am again deeply disappointed that Sen. Obama will not recognize that the surge has succeeded," McCain said. He said that "no rational person" could think otherwise.

McCain said he had been briefed by Col. MacFarland, commander of 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, in December 2006 to discuss the strategy that remains in force today. Bush announced the surge in January 2007 and the first of the new troops began arriving in Iraq in mid-February 2007.

McCain made an unscheduled stop at "Kings Supermarket" in a shopping mall here, and greeted shoppers and commiserated with them on the soaring costs of both food and fuel.

"Among other challenges, Americans face the price of milk at over $4 a gallon," McCain told reporters as he stood in front of a dairy case.

But questions quickly turned to other subjects.

McCain brushed aside a question on a running mate when asked whether Minnesota's Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, was now at the top of his list.

"I can't mention names," he said. But asked what he thought of Pawlenty, McCain said, "He's a great, fine person."

"He, and (Louisiana Gov.) Bobby Jindal and a number of other governors are the future of the Republican party," McCain said.

McCain had been headed to Louisiana later Wednesday, but bad weather generated by Hurricane Dolly, forced a last minute postponement of the trip. He was going to Ohio instead.

Earlier, campaigning in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., McCain credited the recent $10-a-barrel drop in the price of oil to President Bush's lifting of a presidential ban on offshore drilling, an action he has been advocating in his presidential campaign.

The cost of oil and gasoline is "on everybody's mind in this room," McCain told a town-hall meeting.

He criticized Obama for opposing drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Bush recently lifted the executive order banning offshore drilling that his father put in place in 1990. He also asked Congress to lift its own moratorium on oil exploration on the outer continental shelf which includes coastal waters as close as three miles from shore.

"The price of oil dropped $10 a barrel," said McCain, who argued that the psychology of lifting the ban has affected world markets.

The White House didn't go that far. Presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said the price drop also could reflect diminished demand.

"I don't know if we fully deserve the credit," Perino said.

"We don't predict what happens in the market," she said. "We can't really tell. Certainly, taking that action would send a signal that at least the executive branch is serious about moving forward and increasing the supply we have in America."

A barrel of light, sweet crude fell $1.86 to $126.56 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That's down from more than $140 a barrel earlier in the summer. There are 42 gallons in each barrel.

[drrobertfrie]

Shame on CBS for what it did to cover for John McCain. This is tv journalism? You forced Dan Rather to retire for much, much less. After all, he was reporting the truth regarding Bush''s "service"

Cronkite weeps and Murrow flips in his grave.

[ericamaree]

I am increasingly disappointed by most networks'' weak election coverage. CBS''s coverage of Obama is balanced, reporting both his achievements and his ''gaffes''. Your coverage of McCain, on the other hand, is disturbingly biased. What happened to reporting the facts? McCain recently called Social Security a "disgrace"; his energy policy is at best ill advised and he has stated that he does not believe that the US is in a recession; McCain consistently makes foreign policy mistakes, for example, talking about the "Iraq-Pakistan border", calling the war in Iraq the first war since 9-11, and talking about his policy toward Czechoslovakia. CBS makes their bias clear when they edit out McCain''s major mistakes in speaking about the Iraq timeline of events. SHAME on you. Americans not only expect coverage of the issues and the actual facts, the American public deserves accurate and trustworthy news sources! We do not expect pandering to either side of the isle. A conservative bias is no better than a liberal one, so stop editorializing the news and get on with reporting it!
Until CBS consistently demonstrates truly fair and balanced reporting, this is one viewer who will be looking elsewhere for news.

[ericamaree]

I am increasingly disappointed by most networks'' weak election coverage. CBS''s coverage of Obama is balanced, reporting both his achievements and his ''gaffes''. Your coverage of McCain, on the other hand, is disturbingly biased. What happened to reporting the facts? McCain recently called Social Security a "disgrace"; his energy policy is at best ill advised and he has stated that he does not believe that the US is in a recession; McCain consistently makes foreign policy mistakes, for example, talking about the "Iraq-Pakistan border", calling the war in Iraq the first war since 9-11, and talking about his policy toward Czechoslovakia. CBS makes their bias clear when they edit out McCain''s major mistakes in speaking about the Iraq timeline of events. SHAME on you. Americans not only expect coverage of the issues and the actual facts, the American public deserves accurate and trustworthy news sources! We do not expect pandering to either side of the isle. A conservative bias is no better than a liberal one, so stop editorializing the news and get on with reporting it!
Until CBS consistently demonstrates truly fair and balanced reporting, this is one viewer who will be looking elsewhere for news.

[dpnokc]

I''m not buying the accidental splicing these people are professional (LOL) there is no way they accidentally fixed one of the biggest goofs in this campaign season. Grow a pair CBS!!!

[dnsallday]

MCCAIN''S DENIAL NUMBER 9 AND COUNTING.............

Typical Republican, lie and then swear to it!

[obama8years]

AMERICA lets send the Europeans a Message and show them we dont Vote for who they want. Were not going to turn into a Socialist Country like theres. America has stronger freedoms than any of those Euro Block Countries.

VOTE FOR MCCAIN AND TELL EUROPE WE SAY NO TO SOCIALIST!!

[zerato-2009]

Has CBS said anything about editing mccains answers or not catching or airing the 2 mccain mistakes?

[mslola58]

Lets bring Dan Rather back!
Katie Couric can go now instead of later and that means the editors of the McCain interview. I downloaded a copy of the transcript and will post it on my blog for the whole world to read.

[mslola58]

McCain can deny the missteps in his statements all he wants. The American people have been following the news since the very first day we entered Iraq! We know the time-line, we know the dates, we know the facts. He can do his two-step dance all he wants, it just won''t fly. We believe in Senator Obama. We believe we can! Yes We Can! Yes We Will!!
Obama 2008 and I can''t wait!

[grandesign]

Here we go again. The Bush Administration felt the public didn''t need to know, so facts were concealed. Facts about Lynch and Tillman, facts about wire taps, facts about FEMAs incompetence, facts about Plume''s identiy release, facts about so much. Now we have McCain telling us, the public, that we don''t understand. We are not able to understand. We may only understand if he explains it to us. Why are Republicans so condescending; or are we just the stupid public?

[jericho1337]

It`s funny (and a bit alarming) how quickly the US has forgotten Reagan and the Cold War. Remember when he spoke at the Berlin Wall?

As The National Review reports: "When [Reagan] went to the Berlin Wall before the Brandenburg Gate and spoke what has become the signature line of his presidency, entreating Mikhail Gorbachev to `tear down this wall,` it was greeted back home by the chattering class with rolled eyes and smirks. There he goes again."

Remember that? Remember how the US and Reagan were chided for their "cowboy mentality?" Why do we insist on making those same elitist mistakes?

I believe that history will look as kindly on the current Middle East situation as it does on Reagan and the Cold War. It doesn`t matter if you don`t believe this... just *remember* it and then in twenty years you can point it out to the current batch of apologists and buffoons.

[starleo146]

After reading your "rules of engagement" before posting a comment, may I suggest the CBS News follow the standard rules of journalistic ethics. I am refering, of course, to the unethical doctoring of the Couric interview with John (I never met a fact I couldn''''t mangle) McCain. You substituted one of McCain''''s campaign slogans for his actuat answer in response to a Couric question. His actual response shows how out of touch McCain is with historical reality. He does need help, but it should come from his buddies like Lieberman, not a major news outlet.

Posted by zaire1975

You wonder why there is a saying, believe nothing you read, and half of what you hear. FIRE HER it goes all against journalism, and may send a message to Faux Nooze for there lies as well

[zaire1975]

After reading your "rules of engagement" before posting a comment, may I suggest the CBS News follow the standard rules of journalistic ethics. I am refering, of course, to the unethical doctoring of the Couric interview with John (I never met a fact I couldn''t mangle) McCain. You substituted one of McCain''s campaign slogans for his actuat answer in response to a Couric question. His actual response shows how out of touch McCain is with historical reality. He does need help, but it should come from his buddies like Lieberman, not a major news outlet.

[tibu987]

wellhell3

Your ignorance is confirmed by your assinine postings.

Yes, unfortunately, you do have the right to vote.

Scary.

[zaire1975]

After reading the CBS "rules of engagement" for posting comments, may I suggest the CBS News follow the journalistic rules of ethics by not substituting one of McCain''s campaign slogans for his actual response to a valid question in Couric''s interview. When questioned about the unethical doctoring, CBS News replied that "it was a mistake". So, "no harm, no foul" huh? Except, that is, to honest journalism. It is obvious that John McCain needs help in keeping his facts straight, but the should be left to co-horts like Joe Liberman, not a major news organization

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by WellHell3 at 01:40 PM

Yeah? Well, isn''t a privilege that you dont have to be intelligent to vote. I mean, after reading such an idiotic stupid statement such as yours, I wonder how you make it in the world at all. Racist bastarddd that you are.

[pspeete]

How hypocritical of CBS. You do a story on McCain''s explanation to obfuscate his misstatement of facts regarding the surge, yet not a peep about the fact that you attempted to eliminate the error by substituting another answer for the one he made. Were it not for your error in printing the transcript on the web, you would have gotten away with it. SHAME on YOU CBS!!!! And you drove Dan Rather into retirement. Geeeeeeezzzz!

[libh8er]

The ONLY reason SOME Republicans are voting for McCain is that they strictly follow the GOP party line regardless if their candidate is cognizant or not. Posted by mitch6544 at 12:52 PM : Jul 24, 2008

Really? Would you say that Lieberman follows the ''party line''? Libs HATE him because he breaks and does what he thinks is right.

Unlike goose stepping democrats, like you, who vote the ''party line'' because you''ve never had an original thought in your entire, miserable life.

[libh8er]

Guess CBS/AP just went brain dead when Ubama wouldn''t say the surge worked (when obviously it has.) He''d rather throw the US and her soldiers under the bus (like his typical white grandmother) rather than acknowledge their success. LOOOOOOOSER!!!!!

[eroosevelt08]

Senator McCain should not be spouting facts he does not know about for certain. In the information age where we can check on so many things, it is a foolish thing for any politician to do. It is sad that he will end up leaving public life sounding like a grasping, desperate politician. It would have been better if he had not run and retired as a senior statemsman.