John McCain has come under fire for comments he made that some considered an inaccurate portrayal of the timeline of events in Iraq. He said that Anbar Awakening was made possible by the surge, but didn’t back down when critics pointed out that he was chronologically incorrect. In fact, McCain says he views the surge not as just the infusion of five combat brigades, but rather the whole counterinsurgency strategy the U.S. military began implementing in Fall 2006.

As Blake Hounshell at Foreign Policy writes:

McCain’s getting lots of criticism for his chronology, but his broader point is not obviously wrong. Gen. David Petraeus testifed earlier this year that the Awakening “started before the surge, but then was very much enabled by the surge.” And let’s remember that General Petraeus was put in charge in part because he advocated more troops, whereas Generals Casey and Abizaid objected while the change in strategy was under consideration.

Please don’t attempt to explain that to his critics, or you may confuse them.