Perhaps he was referring news US Ambassador to Iraq Robert Beecroft and the State Department's top official in Iraq Brett McGurk recently met with controversial Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi as a potential candidate to replace Al-Maliki. Chalabi is the former head of the Iraqi National Congress, a CIA-funded Iraqi exile group which strongly pressed for the 2003 US led invasion to oust Saddam.
Secretary Kerry's exact itinerary is not known but he will stop in Jordan to be updated on the US training programme for Iraqi commandos, and he will also touch down in the Gulf states to urge leaders of countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar to block funding of ISIS militants. Again Kerry's expectations must surely be low, as Gulf money launderers are notoriously effective and fabulously wealthy sheikhs will always find a way of funding their proxy war either on the black market or with hard cash.
ISIS militants seized Qaim, Rawah and Anah over the weekend - the first territory captured by them in Sunni Anbar province, west of Baghdad, since they overran Fallujah and parts of Ramadi earlier this year.
It is unclear what the jhadists' next military objective is, but the Iraqi capital is on high alert for possible attack with thousands of armed Shia militias loyal to firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ready to spill blood and even die defending the holy Shia shrines in Baghdad and beyond.
Iraq and its people are facing another truly difficult week.
John Cookson has been reporting from Iraq for 25 years for international news channels including Al Jazeera English and Sky News. Twitter: @Newsman1000
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