Whack a Sunni

On July 25th I made the following comment in my blog entry for the day: "More death and destruction. More of our guys killed. No end in sight. No victory possible. We'll take more guys from one place in Iraq to help stabilize Baghdad but then the place they just left will fall into chaos. And violence will continue to create more violence. We can't kill this beast."

The Chicago Tribune notes Senator John McCain agrees with me:

The Bush administration's handling of the war drew sharp rebukes from Democrats and some Republicans Thursday. Sen. John McCain likened the positioning of forces in Iraq to a game of "whack-a-mole," where generals try to curb violence in one area only to see it pop up somewhere else.

"It's very disturbing," said McCain, R-Ariz. "And if it's all up to the Iraqi military, General Abizaid, and if it's all up to them, then I wonder why we have to move troops into Baghdad to intervene in what is clearly sectarian violence."

It's straight talk like this that made McCain a favorite among moderates for most of his political career. Hopefully he's getting back to his roots because his sickening flirtation with the far right turned a lot of moderates, myself included, against him. His continued efforts to hold the administration accountable will only help to gain back some of the trust and credibility he lost by pandering.