McCain - Barack Obama vs. NBC on the Surge

Today, Barack Obama will sit down with NBC News for an interview to be aired on NBC's "Nightly News." Please find below a reminder that while Barack Obama was trying to score political points in the Democratic primaries by calling the surge a failure, NBC News was reporting the progress being made in Iraq because of the surge:

BARACK OBAMA ON THE SURGE

In January 2007, Barack Obama Opposed The Surge:

Barack Obama Said The Surge Would Actually Worsen Sectarian Violence In Iraq. Obama: "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse. I think it takes pressure off the Iraqis to arrive at the sort of political accommodation that every observer believes is the ultimate solution to the problems we face there. So I am going to actively oppose the president's proposal." (MSNBC's "Response To The President's Speech On Iraq," 1/10/07)

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In July 2007, Barack Obama Said The Surge Had Not Worked:

Barack Obama Said The Surge Had Not Worked In Iraq. Obama: "My assessment is that the surge has not worked and we will not see a different report eight weeks from now." (NBC's "The Today Show," 7/18/07)

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In November 2007, Barack Obama Said The Surge Strategy Was Not Working And That America Was "Actually Worsening" The Situation In Iraq:

Barack Obama Said The Surge Has Not Worked, And Had Potentially Worsened The Situation In Iraq. Obama: "Finally, in 2006-2007, we started to see that, even after an election, George Bush continued to want to pursue a course that didn't withdraw troops from Iraq but actually doubled them and initiated the surge and at that stage I said very clearly, not only have we not seen improvements, but we're actually worsening, potentially, a situation there." (NBC's "Meet The Press," 11/11/07)

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NBC ON THE SURGE

In September 2007, NBC Reported On The Success Of The Surge:

NBC's Jim Maceda: "They have had a lot of successes, and it is true that levels of violence are way down in Anbar. There are two main reasons for that, Brian. First of all, those additional 4,000-plus US Marines and soldiers that were part of the surge beginning in February there. Secondly, the local Sunnis, particularly those tribal sheikhs who broke away, as David was suggesting there, from al-Qaeda, about six months ago and started fighting on our side, with US forces." (NBC's "Nightly News," 9/3/07)

In November 2007, NBC Reported On The "Signs Of Change" As A Result Of The Surge:

NBC's Brian Williams: "We are all hearing more and more these days about a significant drop in violence and deaths in Iraq, even though 2007 some time ago became the bloodiest year of the war yet for US forces. These new stats show a different trend. When our own Tom Aspell went out in Iraq to report this story, he found there are, indeed, signs of change." (NBC's "Nightly News," 11/14/07)