Mr. Straight Talk

John McCain on January 9, 2007:

The worst of all worlds would be a small, short surge of U.S. forces. We have tried small surges, and they have been ineffective because commanders lacked the forces necessary to hold territory after it was cleared. Violence, which fell dramatically while U.S. forces were present, spiked as soon as they were gone. Any new surge needs to provide enough U.S. troops to hold the areas on their own.

A short surge would have all the drawbacks of larger deployments without giving our troops the time to be effective. Announcing we are surging for three or six months — or any other timeline — would signal to the insurgents and militias that they can wait us out, and it would indicate to the Iraqi public that the enforcement of their government's authority will be fleeting. This would strengthen, not weaken, the militias.

Robert Gates yesterday:

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday said he did not know how long additional troops would have to remain in Iraq, but that he thought it would be months, not years.

"I don't think anybody has a definite idea of how long a surge would last," Gates said a day after the U.S. president unveiled a plan to send more troops into Baghdad and Anbar. "I think for most of us in our minds we're thinking of it as a matter of months, not 18 months or two years."

John McCain is wholeheartedly endorsing the plan directly above. So either McCain is lying, or endorsing lying.

Which is it Mr. Straight Talk?