So Much For The Commanders On The Ground

THINK PROGRESS: Newsweek reported that while Petraeus recognized that al-Qaeda in Iraq has been significantly diminished, he refused to say the terror group had been “defeated.” Moreover, Petraeus acknowledged that the recent successes in Iraq may have been possible without the surge:

Petraeus is careful not to credit all the progress to the surge of U.S. troops in 2007. The sea change came last year from a series of movements now known as the Awakening. […] So would the Sunni Awakening have succeeded without the surge? Possibly, he concedes.

As we all know, McCain insists that the Anbar Awakening was part of the surge (even though it took place months before the surge was even announced) and now we see he disagrees with one of the people he said he would rely heavily on if elected President during the Saddleback forum. Hmmm...

I'll expect the McCain campaign to berate Petraeus for daring to disagree with a former P.O.W. - maybe they'll send Cindy McCain to Iraq to straighten him out.