WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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.
McCain told the "CBS Evening News" that the U.S.-backed revolt of Sunni sheiks against al-Qaida in Anbar was brought about by the American troop surge.
But as Obama's campaign quickly noted, the Sunni "awakening" -- as the turn away from al-Qaida was called -- got under way before President Bush announced his decision to flood Iraq with tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops.
In March 2007, before the additional troops began arriving, an American commander in Anbar said the newly friendly sheiks had helped cut attacks in the city by half.
A spokesman for McCain did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
