Tampa, Florida
FOR TWO DAYS, John McCain and Mitt Romney have traded accusations on what was, until recently, the most important issue in the Republican presidential primary: Iraq. And while Romney attempted Sunday to diffuse the growing dispute, McCain escalated his criticism.

Talking to a handful of reporters on his campaign bus, McCain said that Romney had used "code words" to call for withdrawal from Iraq. "At the time [of Romney's remarks] it was whether we were going to stay or go. And that's what it was all about. 'Timetables' was the buzzword and everybody knows it . . . Timetables' was the codeword for 'bailout.' . . . It has to be viewed in the context of the time and what was going on at the time--that was everybody wanted out. Nobody but a few of us said we not only can't get out, we can't set timetables, we've got to increase troops. We've got to have the surge."

The entire episode began at the debate on Thursday, when McCain made a passing reference to Romney, without actually naming him. "There were others that called for a phased or secret withdrawal," he said.

In a speech the following day, McCain once again alluded to Romney without naming him, but got more specific talking to reporters afterwards. "If we surrender and wave a white flag, like Senator Clinton wants to do, and withdraw, as Governor Romney wanted to do, then there will be chaos, genocide, and the cost of American blood and treasure would

Several media outlets have taken McCain to task for his claims that Romney called for a secret timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, but McCain stands by the charge.

Here, briefly, is the context. In April, ABC's Robin Roberts asked Romney: "Do you believe that there should be a timetable in withdrawing the troops?" He responded: "Well, there's no question that the president and Prime Minister al-Maliki have to have a series of timetables and milestones that they speak about. But those shouldn't be for public pronouncement. You don't want the enemy to understand how long they have to wait in the weeds until you're going to be gone. You want to have a series of things you want to see accomplished in terms of the strength of the Iraqi military and the Iraqi police, and the leadership of the Iraqi government."

Writers from the Associated Press and Time magazine, among others, have suggested Romney's quote does not constitute an endorsement of "secret timetables" for withdrawal. It is a debatable point. If Romney does not actually say, "I support secret timetables for withdrawal," he does seem to endorse such timetables in response to a question about withdrawal. That's important. It was a direct question: "Do you believe that there should be a timetable in withdrawing the troops?" If the answer was no, presumably Romney would have said so. He did not.

Romney further muddled things in his response to a follow-up. Roberts said: "So, private. You wouldn't do it publicly? Because the president has said flat out that he will veto anything the Congress passes about a timetable for troop withdrawals. As president, would you do the same?"