Just got off a McCain conference call, and thought a few things
were worth reporting. (The text of his speech to VMI is available
here, which hits on a lot of his
key points, as does my post on the speech below.) What's clear is
how he is both distancing himself from Bush's past Iraq policy,
while throwing his full support behind the new strategy, with
tempered optimism.
Throughout the call he criticized the Bush administration for
painting "rosy scenarios" in the past and stressed that there was
still a tough road ahead, but he believes that with the surge
there's now a strategy in place than can succeed. "For four years
we've been screwing this thing up, but the early signs of our new
operating presence in these neighborhoods in Baghdad have been
encouraging."
Though he complimented Defense Secretary Gates, McCain was
critical of the Pentagon for not deploying troops quickly enough
(which he said is due to the small size of the military, "one of a
number legacies that Secretary Rumsfeld hands to us which is going
to have to be corrected") and said that within the Pentagon,
"there's not the sense of urgency there should be." He added, "I
don't think the State Department is yet fully engaged in this
conflict."
When asked who he holds responsible for failures in Iraq, he
said: "I have to hold the President of the United States
responsible, but I am very happy to add that the President of the
Unites States is fully behind this new strategy." He placed blame
on Rumsfeld as well as Generals Casey and Sanchez for past failures
in Iraq. "History will judge them very harshly," Mcain said. But he
had the highest praise for General Petraeus and the rest of the
current team.
McCain also took aim at the media. "I think some of the
mainstream media is not going to report the good news...Let's go to
alternate means such as blogs, such as websites, such as people
calling into the talk shows, such as people writing letters to the
editor."
topics:
Mainstream Media, Military, Iraq
