Fact Check: Did Afghan general say 'surge principle' won't work?

McCain would know this if he paid attention or if he could remember what was said and when it was said. Considering his people prepared Palin with talking points, we shouldn't wonder why she got this one wrong as well. McCain sits on the committee but has not attended a single hearing on Afghanistan. This is a fact as well.

Average citizens do not spend countless hours researching what is real and what is spin to know the difference or keep up with any of this. This election is too important to assume any of them are telling the truth without verifying it especially when it comes to the lives of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan along with the security interests of this nation and vast amounts of money being spent. It was easy for Bush and McCain to call people "anti-war" while they ignored the fact that most Americans supported what was being done in Afghanistan but while they avoided even discussing Afghanistan, lives were lost, time was lost and we became less safe. It's about time the average, "Joe six pack" as Palin labeled average Americans, paid attention to all of this and what the truth is.

October 3, 2008
Fact Check: Did Afghan general say 'surge principle' won't work?
Posted: 07:00 AM ET

Sen. Joe Biden said the 'commanding general in Afghanistan said the surge principle won't work in Afghanistan.'
The Statement:
Sen. Joe Biden said at the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate that "our commanding general in Afghanistan said the surge principle in Iraq will not work in Afghanistan."

Get the facts!


The Facts:
Gov. Sarah Palin, who lauded the successes of the "surge strategy" in Iraq, asserted in the debate that "the surge principles, not the exact strategy, but the surge principles that have worked in Iraq need to be implemented in Afghanistan."

But Sen. Joe Biden disagreed, saying "our commanding general in Afghanistan said the surge principle in Iraq will not work in Afghanistan. … He said we need more troops. We need government-building. We need to spend more money on the infrastructure in Afghanistan."

Gen. David McKiernan, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, was quoted on Oct. 2 in The Washington Post as saying that "no Iraq-style 'surge' of forces will end the conflict" in Afghanistan, even though more U.S. troops are needed to take on a growing insurgency.

"Afghanistan is not Iraq," McKiernan said in Washington on Oct. 1. He also said "the word I don't use for Afghanistan is 'surge.' " He called for a "sustained commitment" leading to a political and not just a military solution.

He said Afghanistan is a "far more complex environment than I ever found in Iraq." The newspaper paraphrased him as citing the country's "unique challenges" — "the mountainous terrain, rural population, poverty, illiteracy, 400 major tribal networks and history of civil war."

The Verdict: True.

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