So, your are saying Mr. McCain should not ask the opinion of the most successful counter-insurgency general officer currently in the field for his opinion?

Don't you think Combatant Commanders talk to each other? Do you think there is no coordination between the two concerning resources and threats? It's called looking at your area of interest. Enemy tactics, techniques migrate from operational theater to operational theater.

Don't you think Mr. McCain hasn't already thought about who he wanted in charge if/when he is elected?

On the other hand, if this is your big event for the week - the republican candidate is secure in his race.

Regards,

match McCain's uninformed impressions of the world.

That occurred to me as well when I heard the news yesterday afternoon.

Still, McCain surely knows the chain of command over there. He's briefed by and visits these people all the time. The better, and probably no less flattering, explanation for the flub is that the Republicans have gotten so used to saying "I'll take my cue from Petraeus" that it's become a verbal tick.

Of course, at the time of McCain's weird statement, Petraeus had no authority over Afghanistan.

Now if we could only get Al Quaeda in Iraq to be allies with Iran, reality will then nicely match McCain's uninformed impressions of the world.