McCain: Gates should have waited

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Sunday that former Defense Secretary Robert Gates should have waited to release his tell-all memoir.

Gates’s memoir, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, takes aim at President Obama, saying that the president did not believe in the war strategy he was carrying out in Afghanistan.

{mosads}Gates has also been criticized by some former Obama advisers, saying he shouldn’t have published the memoir, while Obama was still in office and the country at war in Afghanistan.

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” McCain said he would have waited longer before releasing the book, although he added that he didn’t think Gates should have waited until the war in Afghanistan was over.

“I think, frankly, I might have. If I was giving him advice, I would have waited,” McCain said.

“As far as waiting until it’s over in Afghanistan, I wouldn’t have done that. But maybe retrospect of a little longer than now,” he said.

McCain said he understood why Gates wanted to publish the book and said he respected “his ability to voice his views anytime he wants to.”

“He’s obviously very frustrated, which by the way surprised all of us that know him, and decided to really let loose,” McCain said.