A FACTCHECK REGARDING THE SURGE McCAIN LOVES SO MUCH

CommonDreams offers "McCain Is Deluding Himself Over the 'Surge': There's a hole in the US argument, and blood is rushing through" by Johann Hari. Excerpt: "So what happened in Iraq? Before, during and after the surge, the areas that had always been Sunni and those that had always been Shia were brighter than ever. But in the vast mixed areas, half or more of the lights went out in the six months leading up to the surge. They then stabilised in half-darkness. By the time the US troops arrived, there were no more mixed areas left. The easy pickings - the Shia who lived next door, or the Sunni who lived up the road - had all been attacked. Sunni and Shia weren't killing each other any more because they had retreated into vast enclaves, cleansed and armed, surrounded by barriers manned by militias. Four million people had been driven from their homes."