McCain Visits Baghdad Market
Remember how McCain said last week that there are neighborhoods in Baghdad where Americans can go for a stroll? Well, he decided to put his money where his mouth is: he “strolled briefly through an open-air market in Baghdad”, after which he claimed that Americans are not “getting the full picture” of Iraq / the surge. A journalist, then, asked McCain about his statement that there are neighborhoods, etc. McCain answered: “yes, I just came from one.”
The only problem? He was accompanied by 100 American troops, 3 Blackhawk helicopters, two Apache gunships overhead, and he was wearing a bullet proof vest.
I do not quite see what McCain thinks he is doing. It would have been better if he would have admitted that his words were a bit ill chosen but that the surge is working: there are less murders (in Baghdad), etc.
In that case, people would still argue with him, but at least he would not be making a complete fool out of himself.
Cross posted at my own blog.
12 Responses to “McCain Visits Baghdad Market”
It’s amazing.
It appears to be an act of desperation by McCain whose campaign is floundering because of his support for the war, among other factors. It is in his best interest to present the sham argument that the surge has made Baghdad less violent.
Maybe he didn’t realize that details would surface about walking the streets accompanied by a battalion of bodyguards with helicopters flying overhead. Of course, the average Iraqi does not have access to McCain’s resources, and so are still targets of the insurgency or sectarian factions. He picked an odd time to make his case- last week almost 600 civilians lost their lives in Iraq due to this war,representing a phenomenal increase in acts of violence there.
I find it odd that he is pulling out all the stops to say the escalation is working when it was McCain himself that said that it needed far more troops to succeed.
Isn’t he proving himself wrong?
Chris- I think he was in negotiations with the WH (who badly wanted his approval) at the time he said that, to try to up the number. When he found that that was all that we could logistically send, he settled for the 21,000 followed by the 8,500 support staff. That way when the surge worked it would look like he was right all along to push for escalation.
The comedy value of McCain’s CNN interview is no longer there. Please note the military resources devoted to his photo-op posturing.
Seems to me, the troops and helocopters have more important roles to play.
Funding the war should not include funding political shows.
Doma: I have to admit that I laughed when I read and saw it all. It’s beyond words really. Surreal. There he is talking casually as if he was just, indeed, strolling through Baghdad, which is now incredibly safe due to the surge, only thing is that he needed the support of 100 American troops, 3 Blackhawk helicopters, two Apache gunships and that he was wearing a bullet proof vest.
Surreal.
MVDG-
Yes, but this little comedy show was not free.
I stopped laughing when I started counting up the cost, not only in dollars but in diverted attention. Remember, all the support personnel were exposing themselves to risk of life for the sake of this campaign junket.
McCain should stay in nice, safe newsrooms where the only risk is to his own dignity.
doma,
That sort of treatment is not unique to McCain and it does serve an important purpose to have policymakers get out beyond the green zone. When I deployed to Afghanistan, I flew over to Asia on some leased POS plane that broke down three times on the way there and twice on the way back from deployment. Yet Nancy Pelosi get’s a brand-new, big commercial jet just so she doesn’t have to endure the inconvenience of refuelling on the way to California. Senators get what they want and the military will be extra cautious to make sure they don’t get hurt.
No, McCain’s show was not free, but it didn’t cost much. The troops are already there, the aircraft probably would have been flying anyway and protecting McCain was probably a lot safer of an assignment for most of those troops than their regular day-to-day duties.
Entropy-
From Baghdad to Pelosi is too far a reach.
The latter question was settled, when the facts, backed publically by Tony Snow, were brought out.
The question of politicians getting out of the Green Zone is another matter. What is really the value of these excursions, if the visitor to a market is surrounded by a huge security contingent?
What valuable information from the local citizenry is he garnering? The lesson here seems to be that every Iraqi needs an equivalent security deployment. As for the likes of McCain, he knows nothing now that he couldn’t spout from the safety of CNN studios.
Pelosi is the new Clinton. But Pelosi did it!
What’s funny is if Nanci Pelosi’s trip to the Middle East is more seriously received as well as actually more substantial than McCain’s. It would be laughable if Pelosi came across as much more serious and … even more purposeful than McCain.
I’ve avoided watching teevee for ages, but occasionally see something, and if you thought McCain’s trip to Iraq was a laugh, did anyone see McCain appearing at the college championship game (for some free exposure for his campaign)? He simply went rapidly by the players on the field, shaking hands — how cynical (and inept for one’s campaign) can anyone get?
Will anyone who saw and heard McCain on the teevee report: Did McCain stop to speak to anyone in that neighborhood, and actually say hello, at least, or was he just pictured (silently) walking down a street?
Can anyone see McCain even as a VP candidate?
Domo,
When comparing Pelosi and McCain I was talking about dollars. Pelosi’s jet will cost a heckuva lot more than McCains little excursion. I’m not against senior civilian leaders getting free military transport. But it pisses me off when they get a brand new plane while me and my unit are delayed getting into theater by 4 days because we got the crappiest plane on the planet. That’s a different topic though.
Yes, it’s not much more than a photo op and certainly McCain is not the first nor will he be the last. I just don’t find this event all that important or newsworthy.