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.
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