maybe the administration and john mccain would have agreed? >> first of all, i think it's important to note he was quite bipartisan in his criticism of presidential administrations. he was very frustrated with the bush administration prior to the surge. he felt iraq was going down, and it was, and needed to be turned around and we needed not only more forces but a different approach. thankfully i think we were able to validate the confidence he had in that. he and senators lieberman and gram, the three amigos we called them at the time, were among the few who still supported what we were trying to do there and without their support led by senator mccain, i'm not sure we could have maintained what was necessary on capitol hill. certainly he was frustrated in the previous administration about indecisiveness on syria. in case where's rhetoric outstripped what it was we were willing to do.