Woodward: McCain Privately Pessimistic About Iraq in 2007

Sen. John McCain talks often about giving "straight talk" to the American people about the real situation in Iraq.

He brags about having been one of the few Republicans willing to openly criticize President Bush's strategy in the years leading up to the surge. And he promises that, if elected, he will hold weekly war briefings and be upfront about how the war is going.

(snip)

The book describes McCain's press conference after visiting the Shorja market in Baghdad in early April of 2007. After touring the market -- protected by more than 100 soldiers -- McCain said, "Things are getting better in Iraq, and I am pleased with the progress that has been made."

McCain was widely mocked for those statements later after television crews showed the level of protection surrounding him at the market.

But what was not known at the time was how different his private assessment of the war was.

According to Woodward, McCain was invited to visit with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after he publicly made the positive comments at the market. "Rice had expected him to reiterate his optimism, but after some pleasantries, he let loose," Woodward writes.

"We may be about to lose the second war in my lifetime," Woodward quotes McCain as saying to Rice. Woodward writes that McCain "launched into a full-throated critique of the State Department's role" in the war effort.

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http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/13/woodward_mccain_privately_pess.html?hpid=topnews

that "war" is not some macho dick measuring contest where winning and losing are clearly defined. I think he is actually afraid if we don't bomb Iraq into the stone age other countries will think we are wussies.

It really is a shame that this little twerp has gone senile without first reaching maturity.