McCain surprised by Iraq mayhem

By Libby

Hot on the heels of his "fact finding" tour of the Middle East which included a stop in Iraq, but didn't include a visit to the market he fabulously deemed secure and a sign of the surge strategy's success last year, while ignoring the fact he had to be surrounded by 100 armed guards and a helicopter to take the stroll, McCain is simply shocked that Maliki started his Basra offensive this week.

“Maliki decided to take on this operation without consulting the Americans,’’ Mr. McCain said on his campaign bus as it rolled through downtown Meridian, saying that the move showed independence but that he had expected the military to focus on Mosul.

“I just am surprised that he would take it on himself to go down and take charge of a military offensive,’’ he said. “I had not anticipated that he would do that.’’

Is he joking? Considering Cheney's 'surprise' visit to Iraq only a couple of weeks ago, does anybody really believe that Maliki thought this dunderheaded idea up himself or would have undertaken it without the express permission of his White House handlers? The operation had GOP political convenience and its rosy-eyed arrogance written all over it. If McCain is really surprised his grasp of the Iraq debacle is even more dismal than I feared.