Conventional Wisdom Surging

I've got a piece up at Huffington Post that examines some wrong-headed conventional wisdom continually repeated in campaign reporting: the alleged success of "The Surge" in Iraq, and Senator John McCain's claim to be a tested military leader who "knows how to win a war." Since these are both central elements of McCain's candidacy, the facts ought to be part the discussion:

One key factor is almost always omitted in discussions of the surge's presumed effects: At the same time the violence declined, the U.S. started paying $30 million in bribes every month to the terrorists... Read more