Similarly, on the August 26 edition of CBS' Face the Nation, host Bob Schieffer falsely claimed that Clinton is "saying it looks like ... maybe the surge is working in the sense that there is less violence there."
In fact, Media Matters has repeatedly noted that Clinton suggested months ago that U.S. forces were achieving progress in Iraq due to better relations between tribal leaders and American military forces, while at the same time she was opposing the so-called "surge" and calling for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq. The New York Daily News reported on August 23 that Clinton made similar comments about Al Anbar province in March: "Camp Clinton insisted she was talking only about a limited improvement in Anbar, linked to better relations with tribal leaders -- a claim she made to the Daily News in March." Indeed, on March 16, Clinton told the Daily News that "[w]e seem to be making a little progress in Al Anbar province because we have an alliance with the tribal sheiks for the very first time" and discussed cooperation in Al Anbar, noting: "I don't know anybody who has looked at this from a military perspective who says that we would need a lot of troops to keep that up." In the same interview, Clinton made clear that she didn't believe the surge was working and reaffirmed her claim that some U.S. troops should be withdrawn from Iraq: "[I]f we could start now to do what many of us believe we should -- like no escalation and forcing political solutions and international involvement and all the things I've talked about for a very long time -- then we would be on the path toward reducing drastically the number of troops we have with these remaining missions."
- Sen. Durbin
An August 9 New York Sun article on recent statements by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) regarding President Bush's troop increase strategy in Iraq, made during an August 8 CNN interview, appeared under the headline: "A Ranking Senate Democrat Concedes Surge Is Working." While Durbin cited military progress in Iraq during the CNN interview, he did not "concede" that the "surge is working" as the Sun headline stated. Rather, he specifically said that he sees "two important parts to this story... As we are seeing military progress, any political scene is discouraging. We are seeing the al Maliki government once branded the government of unity coming apart. We are seeing Sunnis and others leaving and not becoming the stability of this country."
Similarly, on the August 22 edition of Fox News' Special Report, chief Washington correspondent Jim Angle reported that Durbin "once said the surge was not the answer, but now says the 'surge has resulted in a reduction of violence in many parts of Iraq. More American troops have brought more peace to more parts of Iraq. I think that's a fact.' " According to an August 9 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article, Durbin did, in an August 8 conference call, reportedly say that it's "a fact" that "[t]he surge has resulted in a reduction of violence in many parts of Iraq." However, he also said that the president's strategy had major flaws that would prevent it from achieving success: "Iraqi politicians haven't made the type of progress that would produce "a government of national unity," he said. Durbin added: "That is the weakness in the president's strategy. I think we have to start removing the troops. We have stretched our troops to the limit."
- Sen. Obama
The August 22 edition of The Washington Post's The Trail, "A Daily Diary of Campaign 2008," cropped an August 21 comment by Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) on the troop buildup in Iraq -- that "[i]f we put 30,000 additional troops into Baghdad, it will quell some of the violence short-term" -- and juxtaposed it with his January 5 comment -- that "an escalation of troop levels in Iraq was a mistake and that we need a political accommodation rather than a military approach to the sectarian violence there" -- to falsely suggest that the two statements were inconsistent. In fact, Obama reiterated his position from January on August 21, but the Post omitted the entirety of his comments: After saying what the Post quoted him saying, Obama added: "It [a troop buildup] doesn't change the underlying assessment, which is that there is not a military solution to the political dynamic in Iraq."
Myth: Democrats are Calling for a "Precipitous Withdrawal" from Iraq
President Bush has used the term "precipitous withdrawal" to describe proposals for a timetable for withdrawal on multiple occasions, as have White House spokesman Tony Fratto and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Moreover, Vice President Dick Cheney said on August 6 that "this is no time to lose heart and make a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq, as some in Congress are demanding." In addition, a document on House Minority Leader John Boehner's (R-OH) website asks, "What would Iraq look like if the Democrats' plan for precipitous withdrawal were implemented?"
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