This story, posted onHuffingtonpost really surprised me, but i have to wonder how legitimate the claim is considering the source.
The initial article is from GQ Magazine,not exactly top political journalism.
More about this story after the fold
Per the Huffington Post article:
It suddenly seemed that the efforts of the surge might be for naught," the magazine reports. "And so, shortly after returning from Iraq, McCain and [Sen. Lindsey] Graham visited President Bush at the White House. According to three individuals with knowledge of the July 11 conversation, the pair advised Bush to cut all ties with al-Maliki unless he showed immediate signs of engagement. Such a move on Bush's part would be tantamount to encouraging a coup against Iraq's first democratically elected prime minister, but McCain and Graham saw the situation as a desperate one. We've got a military strategy that's working, they told the president. And it's being undercut by an Iraqi government that's dysfunctional.
I wonder two things. First, who are these 3 individuals. And secondly, I wonder how serious this concern was, that McCain was speaking about Maliki and he wasn't getting input (at least not according to the article) from others. I'd imagine that cutting ties with Maliki would have been a disaster and other advisers gave that information to Bush.
THe portion of the story that Huffington and I find quite troubling is McCain's quote regarding the war soon after it started:
You've got to shoot the looters,
This sounds to me pretty harsh and coming from someone that is not fit to be president of the United States. A loose canon like McCain is not fit to make decisions that don't directly involve his POW history.
McCain was one of the biggest proponents for the war:
McCain left Rumsfeld’s office gnashing his teeth. "He doesn’t get it," he told colleagues later. Having pushed for the war, McCain now emerged as its leading Republican critic—the truth-teller who, unlike Bush and Rumsfeld, had seen it with his own eyes.
It seems as the Iraq war has been put on a back burner to the main issue, the Economy, as i think it should. However, i think that touching on the issues of the Iraq war and that McCain was one of the biggest supporters could and would tie him to Bush even more.
John McCain and Bush, collectively, did not and still do not understand the significance of the sectarian violence. Jumping to conclusions and making poor decisions in the wake of terrorist groups around the globe, is NOT something the president can afford.
I don't know if this is an issue that needs and deserves major headlines, but i think it is something to consider.