To read this piece, you would think the "war" in Iraq was over, Iraqis had taken charge, and Americans troops were back home. The writer spins a narrative of two possible decisions (one McCain's and the other Obama's) and purports to show how much better McCain's security choices are. The most serious problem with the piece is that the writer picks only the facts and evidence that supports his point of view and ignores other facts that need to be part of the equation, e.g. ignoring Al Sadr's withdrawal of his "fighters" during the time of the surge. Another problem is that the writer draws conclusions about the success of the surge that isn't shared by all--or even most--other people. The continued daily news belies the writer's ... More »

the story has some of the facts right regarding the 'success' of mccain's surge. it doesn't discuss the other factors of reduction of sectarian violence, it doesn't add the continued failure of the iraqi government and army to figure out their own way forward, and most importantly it doesn't bring up all those years before the surge where going into iraq was not called for. nor does it mention how far into the future our money and troops will be occupying iraq to keep it secure for our own purposes. sen. obama appears to look, with those factors, the most effective commander in chief.

The author who was the brainchild of the surge strategy developed at the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute has never been to Iraq himself but condemns Obama for the amount of times he has gone which is less than McCain. As if the sanitized trips that McCain received gives a true indication of the conditions on the ground. Over 189 American Soldiers have died this year with the surge fully in place and over 3,574 Iraqis according to Iraqi Coalition Casualties and Kagan says violence has almost stopped completely. He states that if we did not have a surge and pull out it would be a humiliating defeat in the war against al Qaeda. No mention that al Qaeda was not there when we first invaded and occupied this country and ... More »