The Vacuum of the Moment

What I find truly amazing in John McCain's revisionism regarding the "surge" and his support for it, is the sadly transparent effort to ignore the main realities of Iraq. McCain, according to the AP, claimed today (Friday, July 25, 2008) that, had the "surge" not been undertaken, we would have had "U.S. forces retreating under fire, the Iraqi army collapsing, civilian casualties increasing dramatically, al-Qaida killing cooperative Sunni sheiks and finding safe havens to train fighters and launch attacks on Americans, and civil war, genocide and a wider conflict."

"Above all, America would have been humiliated and weakened," McCain said. "Terrorists would have seen our defeat as evidence America lacked the resolve to defeat them. As Iraq descended into chaos, other countries in the Middle East would have come to the aid of their favored factions, and the entire region might have erupted in war."

What McCain conveniently ignores is that none of the outcomes that he predicts – including the need for the surge itself - would have, or could have existed had we not embarked on this exercise in political adventurism in the first place. Had we focused our efforts and resources on Afghanistan, for instance, it is possible that not only would we not have had to deal with al-Qaida in Iraq, but would possibly no longer be dealing with al-Qaida at all – some 7 years after the attacks of 09/11/2001.

The "surge" was a well executed effort to rescue a botched and completely unnecessary mission. To say what McCain says now, to claim some sort of moral superiority in having supported that rescue mission, is very much like claiming that cleaning up the poor drunk girl, after the you and your fraternity brothers pulled a train on her, is an act of chivalry.

Maybe, but only in the vacuum of the moment.