I don’t see how Hinderaker can claim this with a straight face. Yes, this was the official position, but it is now well-documented that despite the advice of Gen Shinsecki, Rumsfeld was determined to fight the war with a leaner, meaner military force. This initial error cost us the ability to prevent looting, and stabilize the area, losing the US the goodwill of the Iraqi people.

In a later phase, Casey and Abizaid were concious of the way the population viewed us as a foreign occupier rather than a liberator and wanted to train an Iraqi army and police force to protect the nascent government.

It was only when that mission failed, and there was widespread fear that Iraq was descending into a bloody civil war that could easily lead to regional war, that talk of sending in a larger US force resurfaced. I believe that there was a decision made that we could defeat the Sunni insurgency with a larger force in Baghdad, while the Shiite militias sat back and let us do the dirty work.

In any case, McCain was a war hawk, but favored the use of overwhelming force. He has recently been highly critical of Casey and Rumsfeld, because they believed the war could be won with “Iraqization”. Of course that would have only worked if Iraq had not split into so many factions.

Seriously Michael, have you really read what that guy writes before?

I strongly disagree with this. I think McCain parses his words more carefully than any candidate in the field, and he was very, very careful not to criticize Bush. He is in Bush’s pocket. Far from being maverick, not only is he cowed by the Bush administration, but he is owned by it. His hopes for the ‘08 Republican nomination are fastened to the Bush administration with glue, nails, screws, and clamps. McCain now owns the escalation, despite his attempts to maintain distance by saying he wanted a bigger escalation. He is using the Bush fund-raising list (if you know a little about campaigns, you know what a big deal that the Bushies shared their fund-raising list with him). He made nice-nice, and basically bent over, after the 2000 South Carolina primary. He’s been playing “good dog” ever since. There’s a deal in there somewhere that he cut with Bush in 2000. No, McCain is very careful not to criticize Bush in any way and that has been the case since the deal was cut.

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