Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Post
April 1, 2008
Pg. 8
The Trail
MERIDIAN, Miss. -- John McCain expressed surprise that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki instigated a battle in the southern city of Basra in recent days without, according to McCain, first notifying the United States.
"Maliki decided to take on this operation without consulting the Americans," McCain told reporters on the Straight Talk Express on Monday as he began a week-long biographical tour. "I just am surprised that he would take it on himself, to go down and take charge of a military offensive."
The senator from Arizona said he believed the "generally accepted strategy" was to complete operations in Mosul, where the Americans and Iraqis are still battling insurgents, before moving to deal with the situation in the south.
-- Michael D. Shear
April 1, 2008
Pg. 8
The Trail
MERIDIAN, Miss. -- John McCain expressed surprise that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki instigated a battle in the southern city of Basra in recent days without, according to McCain, first notifying the United States.
"Maliki decided to take on this operation without consulting the Americans," McCain told reporters on the Straight Talk Express on Monday as he began a week-long biographical tour. "I just am surprised that he would take it on himself, to go down and take charge of a military offensive."
The senator from Arizona said he believed the "generally accepted strategy" was to complete operations in Mosul, where the Americans and Iraqis are still battling insurgents, before moving to deal with the situation in the south.
-- Michael D. Shear