MORE ON "MISTAKE" McCAIN

Via Atrios, I learn that the AP picked up on McCain's blunder about the Anbar Awakening but apparently it's only because the Obama campaign alerted them.

Obama campaign: McCain flubs on Iraq timeline

15 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate John McCain says Democrat Barack Obama is wrong about the Iraq war.

But Obama's campaign says McCain was wrong about the war's timeline during a nationally televised interview Tuesday.

Asked about Obama's contention that a Sunni revolt against al-Qaida combined with the addition of thousands of U.S. combat troops that were sent to Iraq contributed to the improved security situation there, McCain scoffed.

"I don't know how you respond to something that is such a false depiction of what actually happened," McCain told "CBS Evening News," adding that Col. Sean MacFarland was contacted by a major Sunni sheik.

"Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening," McCain said, referring to the U.S.-backed revolt of Sunni sheiks against al-Qaida in Anbar province. "I mean, that's just a matter of history."

The problem with McCain's statement — as Obama's campaign quickly noted — was that the awakening got under way before President Bush announced in January 2007 his decision to flood Iraq with tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops to help combat violence.

ABC News also carried the AP article along with a handful of U.S. newspapers.

UPDATE: Kevin Drum and Steve Benen also caught this huge blunder by McCain.