The Restless Wave

by John McCain

  The McCain Institute convenes a weekend forum every spring at a resort in Sedona, attended by prominent figures in government, business, education, and the military. Foreign and defense ministers and even a few heads of government have come. We host a dinner on Saturday night for the attendees. It’s especially beautiful here in the spring, and the property has made such an impression on our guests that word of Hidden Valley’s charms has spread worldwide. Carlos Slim, the billionaire from Mexico City, one of the world’s wealthiest men, told me he thought it was one of the nicest places he had ever been. I receive regular solicitations from senior officials of foreign governments. “I hear you have a beautiful place near Sedona. I’d love to see it someday.”

  Yes, I loved it when I first saw it, and had a vision of what it might become. And now we’re nearly there, and I love it all the more.

  I lived so much of my life on the move, compensated in other ways for the hometown I was denied. I had no connection to one place; no safe harbor where I could rest carelessly. Landscapes and communities passed too quickly to form lasting attachments of shared history that calm you when old age finally confounds your restlessness. I was almost forty-five when I moved to Arizona. In the nearly four decades that have passed since, Arizona has enchanted and claimed me.

  Near the end of his life, Barry Goldwater, a great outdoorsman, tried to describe his affection for the state. “Arizona is 113,400 square miles of heaven that God cut out.” Then he paused to choke back tears before managing to add, “I love it so much.”

  I have experienced every scene of spectacular natural beauty this magnificent state possesses. I’ve hiked Canyon de Chelly, and the Grand Canyon rim to rim. I’ve rafted down the Colorado and houseboated on Lake Powell. I’ve walked the trails in Saguaro National Park, been struck mute by the landscape of Monument Valley, and spent countless hours happily following hidden paths in wilderness areas. I’ve driven through the desert in the spring after a wet winter and gasped at the profusion of color, the mesmerizing beauty of desert wildflowers in sudden bloom. I love it so much. And I am so grateful for the privilege of representing the state and its people in the United States Senate.

  I’ve been to just about every community that Arizonans carved from the wilderness and made thrive; places that never stopped growing and places that were abandoned to history when opportunities were exhausted; places that rose and declined were reimagined and made to prosper again by the hardworking, self-starting dreamers Arizona attracts in such great numbers. I’ve been astonished by the resourcefulness of generations of Arizonans in Yuma and Page, Jerome and Kingman, Bisbee and Flagstaff, who struggled, achieved, lost, and struggled again to build from their freedom and opportunities strong, prospering, decent communities in the challenging and beautiful place that had won their hearts.

  We will change as all places do. More people will come, as I once came, to make a new home or find the only home they ever really have in towns and cities and rural communities that will be better for their presence. Some will come from other states, and some will come from other countries. They will face the challenges of their time and place. They’ll suffer setbacks. And they will stick with it and prevail. And years from now their stories, character, and accomplishments will inspire other lucky newcomers, as I was once inspired, who came to live in beauty, and make the most of their lives.

  I won’t see it, but I wish I could. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be here. Maybe I’ll have another five years. Maybe, with the advances in oncology, they’ll find new treatments for my cancer that will extend my life. Maybe I’ll be gone before you read this. My predicament is, well, rather unpredictable. But I’m prepared for either contingency, or at least I’m getting prepared. I have some things I’d like to take care of first, some work that needs finishing, and some people I need to see. And I want to talk to my fellow Americans a little more if I may.

  My fellow Americans. No association ever mattered more to me. We’re not always right. We’re impetuous and impatient, and rush into things without knowing what we’re really doing. We argue over little differences endlessly, and exaggerate them into lasting breaches. We can be selfish, and quick sometimes to shift the blame for our mistakes to others. But our country “ ’tis of Thee.” What great good we’ve done in the world, so much more good than harm. We served ourselves, of course, but we helped make others free, safe, and prosperous because we weren’t threatened by other people’s liberty and success. We need each other. We need friends in the world, and they need us. The bell tolls for us, my friends. Humanity counts on us, and we ought to take measured pride in that. We have not been an island. We were “involved in mankind.”

  Before I leave I’d like to see our politics begin to return to the purposes and practices that distinguish our history from the history of other nations. I would like to see us recover our sense that we are more alike than different. We are citizens of a republic made of shared ideals forged in a new world to replace the tribal enmities that tormented the old one. Even in times of political turmoil such as these, we share that awesome heritage and the responsibility to embrace it. Whether we think each other right or wrong in our views on the issues of the day, we owe each other our respect, as long as our character merits respect, and as long as we share, for all our differences, for all the rancorous debates that enliven and sometimes demean our politics, a mutual devotion to the ideals our nation was conceived to uphold, that all are created equal, and liberty and equal justice are the natural rights of all. Those rights inhabit the human heart, and from there, though they may be assailed, they can never be wrenched. I want to urge Americans, for as long as I can, to remember that this shared devotion to human rights is our truest heritage and our most important loyalty.

  Then I would like to go back to our valley, and see the creek run after the rain, and hear the cottonwoods whisper in the wind. I want to smell the rose-scented breeze and feel the sun on my shoulders. I want to watch the hawks hunt from the sycamore. And then take my leave, bound for a place near my old friend Chuck Larson in the cemetery on the Severn, back where it began.

  “The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it,” spoke my hero, Robert Jordan, in For Whom the Bell Tolls. And I do, too. I hate to leave it. But I don’t have a complaint. Not one. It’s been quite a ride. I’ve known great passions, seen amazing wonders, fought in a war, and helped make a peace. I’ve lived very well and I’ve been deprived of all comforts. I’ve been as lonely as a person can be and I’ve enjoyed the company of heroes. I’ve suffered the deepest despair and experienced the highest exultation. I made a small place for myself in the story of America and the history of my times.

  I leave behind a loving wife, who is devoted to protecting the world’s most vulnerable, and seven great kids, who grew up to be fine men and women. I wish I had spent more time in their company. But I know they will go on to make their time count, and be of useful service to their beliefs, and to their fellow human beings. Their love for me and mine for them is the last strength I have.

  What an ingrate I would be to curse the fate that concludes the blessed life I’ve led. I prefer to give thanks for those blessings, and my love to the people who blessed me with theirs. The bell tolls for me. I knew it would. So I tried, as best I could, to stay a “part of the main.” I hope those who mourn my passing, and even those who don’t, will celebrate as I celebrate a happy life lived in imperfect service to a country made of ideals, whose continued success is the hope of the world. And I wish all of you great adventures, good company, and lives as lucky as mine.

  Requiem

  Under the wide and starry sky

  Dig the grave and let me lie.

  Glad did I live and gladly die,

  And I laid me down with a will.

  This be the verse you grave for me:

  “Here he lies where he longed to be;

  Home is the sailor, home from sea,

  And the hunter home
from the hill.”

  —Robert Louis Stevenson

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  The authors would like to thank the following individuals for their invaluable assistance in our latest collaboration. Two people have played critical roles in our literary sideline over a span of two decades. We would have never produced a word without the trust and guidance of our publisher and editor, Jonathan Karp, or the dedication of our agent, Philippa Brophy. Thank you for everything, especially your friendship. Several people gave generously of their time to help summon and fact-check the memories recalled in these pages: dos amigos, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman; traveling companions and trusted advisors Daniel Twining, Richard Fontaine, Christian Brose; and consigliere, Randy Scheunemann. Many thanks also to Ellen Cahill, Virginia Pounds, and Arjun Nijhawan for helping us produce a narrative that doesn’t rely entirely on our rather unreliable memories of dates and places. To the team at Simon & Schuster—Fred Chase, Lisa Erwin, Jonathan Evans, Larry Hughes, Kristen Lemire, Elisa Shokoff, Emily Simonson, Dana Trocker—who made this book so much better than it otherwise would have been, thank you for your hard work and kindness to two writers who are amateurs saved from embarrassment by your professionalism. We wish to express our deep gratitude to three friends of long standing, whose support we have relied on in this and many other endeavors—Richard Davis, Carla Eudy, and Joseph Donoghue. And last but never least, our love to Diane and Cindy, for putting up with this project and everything else.

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  THE OFFICE OF SENATOR MCCAIN

  Senator John McCain entered the Naval Academy in June of 1954, and served in the United States Navy until 1981. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona in 1982 and to the Senate in 1986. He was the Republican Party’s nominee for President in the 2008 election.

  Mark Salter has collaborated with John McCain on all seven of their books, including Faith of My Fathers, Worth the Fighting For, Why Courage Matters, Character Is Destiny, Hard Call, and Thirteen Soldiers. He served on Senator McCain’s staff for eighteen years.

  MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT

  SimonandSchuster.com

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Senator-John-McCain

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Mark-Salter

  @simonbooks

  ALSO BY JOHN McCAIN AND MARK SALTER

  Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir

  Worth the Fighting For: The Education of An American Maverick, and the Heroes Who Inspired Him

  Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life

  Character Is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember

  Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them

  Thirteen Soldiers: A Personal History of Americans at War

  We hope you enjoyed reading this Simon & Schuster ebook.

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  INDEX

  A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.

  Abadi, Haider al-, 140

  Abashidze, Aslan, 262–63

  Abkhazia (Georgia), 249, 263, 264, 265–66

  Abou el-Naga, Faiza, 162, 163

  Abu Ghraib, 83–87, 88, 116, 139

  Abu Risha, Abdul Sattar, 126

  Abu Salim prison, 73

  “Accumulated memories”

  characteristics of, 3–4; and deaths of friends, 4–5; McCain gratefulness for, 5–6; and service to country, 6

  Addington, David, 92

  Adjaria (Georgia), 262–63

  Affordable Care Act. See Obamacare

  Afghanistan

  and al-Qaeda, 105, 141, 143; counter-narcotics program in, 118–19; drawdown in, 143–46; Georgian troops in, 263, 266; German troops in, 303; Graham-Lieberman-McCain op-ed about, 142–43; impact of Iraq strategy on, 117; Iraq compared with, 110, 130; Libyan veterans in, 70; McCain memories of, 146–49; McCain trips to, 105–7, 109, 117, 118–19, 129, 142, 146–47, 339; and media, 117; Obama trip to, 45; reenlistment/Fourth of July ceremonies in, 147–49, 340, 376; and Russian-U.S. relations, 270; surge/counterinsurgency in, 141, 142; and Taliban, 105, 106, 107, 110, 141, 142, 143, 144, 146, 147; and torture debate, 81–82, 86, 88, 89; Ukrainian troops in, 282; U.S. strategic plan for, 146; U.S. troop level in, 142, 143–46; withdrawal of U.S. forces from, 143–44

  AFL-CIO, 222, 227

  African Union, 157

  Agha-Soltan, Neda, 323

  Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud, 322, 323

  AIG, 61

  Akhmetov, Rinat, 281

  Aksyonov, Sergei, 284

  Al Jazeera, 151

  al-Nusra, 185, 187

  al-Qaeda

  and Afghanistan, 105, 141, 143; American fight against, 318; growing power of, 185; in Iraq, 107, 109, 120, 121, 126, 128, 135, 182; and Libya, 178; Libyan exiles and, 70; popularity of, 121; and Syria, 182, 183, 186; and torture debate, 72, 76–77, 89, 93; See also al-Nusra; specific person

  Alabama: McCain 2008 “Black Belt” tour in, 38–40

  Albania, 247, 269

  Alexander, Lamar, 347, 348, 354, 364, 368

  Allawi, Ayad, 132, 133, 134, 135

  Allen, John, 145

  America First ideology, 192, 210, 300

  American exceptionalism

  aim/goal of, 330, 331; and Belarus, 333–34; benefits of, 311–12; and Burma, 314–18; and change, 330–34; characteristics of, 330; and China, 334–38; critics of, 330–31; and human rights, 308, 310, 313–14, 326–27, 332–33; illustration of, 208–9; and immigration, 206, 208–9, 210; as inspiration to others, 307–8; and international solidarity, 314; and Iran, 322–24, 327–28; McCain role in, 331–34; McCain views about, 356, 379–80; and official statements, 312–13; and perfection, 329; and Russia/Putin, 301–2, 310–12, 313, 332; skepticism about, 329–30; spread of, 329–30, 338; and Trump, 325–29, 336–37; and U.S. role in world, 309, 310–13, 325, 328, 329, 356; and Uzbekistan, 318–21; and Vietnam, 326, 329

  American Legion, 24

  Amnesty International, 315, 316, 331

  Amos, James, 115

  Anbar Province (Iraq), 116, 121, 123, 126–27, 131, 139

  anti-Americanism: in Europe, 303–4

  Arab League, 158, 181

  Arab Spring

  beginning of, 152; as challenge to Americans, 153; eternal promise of, 193; in Middle East, 138; and protests in Russia, 273–74; See also specific nation

  Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 54

  Arizona

  change in, 378; elections of 2008 in, 17, 36; immigrants in, 210–11, 215–17, 218; as McCain home, 372–80; natural beauty of, 377–78

  Arizona Farm Bureau, 373

  Arizona State University: McCain Institute for International Leadership at, 236, 331, 377

  Armed Services Committee, Senate

  and Abu Ghraib scandal, 84–86; and bipartisanship, 349, 357, 358; and Clinton (Hillary)-McCain relationship, 13; and Iraq, 128–29; Kennedy (Ted)-McCain relationship and, 199; and Libya, 173; McCain as chairman of, 102; and McCain home life, 373; and Montenegro visit, 296; and regular order, 349; and torture debate, 84–86, 102; See also defense authorization bills

  Army Field Manual, 91, 97, 103, 115

  Arpaio, Joe, 216

  Assad, Bashar al-, 152–53, 180–91, 276, 310, 324

  assassinations

&nb
sp; Russian, 246, 251–52, 253, 255, 293; See also specific person

  Associated Press, 33

  Audubon Society, 376

  Austin, Lloyd, 135, 139

  Australia: McCain trip to, 342–43

  Ayed, Mondher Ben, 155, 156

  Ayers, Bill, 48

  Ayotte, Kelly, 315

  Baghdadi, Abu Bakr al-, 187, 239

  Bagram Air Base (Afghanistan), 86, 105, 106, 147

  Bahrain: Arab Spring in, 152, 153

  bailout, government, 61

  Baker, James, 127, 249

  Balkans

  McCain trips to, 247; See also specific nation

  Baltic republics

  McCain trips to, 247; and NATO, 244, 247, 248, 257; and Russia, 244, 247, 248, 288; See also specific nation

  Bamiyan (Afghanistan): Buddhist statues at, 106–7

  Bannon, Steve, 210, 327

  Barrasso, John, 342–43

  Barzani, Masoud, 133–34, 136

  Basra (Iraq), 110–11

  Baucus, Max, 275

  Belarus, 278, 333–34

  Belhaj, Abdel Hakim, 70–71, 72–73, 74–76, 176

  Belhaj, Fatima, 71, 73, 75, 76, 176

  Ben Ali, Zine el-Abidine, 151–52, 154

  Benghazi, Libya

  Arab Spring in, 152, 156, 169, 172, 173–74; attack on U.S. mission in, 178–79; McCain trips to, 169–70, 173–74; U.S. diplomatic presence in, 169, 178–79