Presidential hopeful McCain visits Baghdad market

[Dos Equis]

McCain must have gotten my memo.   

Presidential hopeful McCain visits Baghdad market
Sun Apr 1, 2007 11:43am ET
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• By Ross Colvin

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain toured a Baghdad market on Sunday and said afterwards the American people were not being told the "good news" about the war in Iraq.

McCain, a strong supporter of President George W. Bush's plan to send nearly 30,000 more troops as part of his new strategy in Iraq, said the media had a responsibility to report both the positive and the negative in the four-year-old war that is growing increasingly unpopular in the United States.

His comments come days after the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate joined with the House of Representatives in backing a timetable for withdrawing U.S. combat troops from Iraq, a move McCain has said would set "a date certain for surrender".

"I believe we have a new strategy that is making progress. That is not to say things are well everywhere in Iraq. Far from it, we have a long way to go," he told journalists after spending a day touring Baghdad with a congressional delegation.

Most of the 30,000 additional troops are being sent to Baghdad, where American troops have joined Iraqi forces in sweeping neighborhoods and setting up outposts in a major security crackdown to curb rampant sectarian violence.

"You read every day about suicide bombings, kidnappings, rocket attacks and other terrible acts. What we don't read about and what is new is a lot of the good news -- the drop in the murders in Baghdad, the establishment of security outposts throughout the city ... the deployment of additional Iraqi brigades to Baghdad," McCain said.

"These and other indicators are reasons for very cautious optimism about the effects of the new strategy," said the 70- year-old senator from Arizona, who has been a vocal critic in the past of the Bush administration's handling of the war.

"Just as we read about all the negative events in Iraq the American people must be aware of the positive developments under this new plan, and the media has a responsibility to report all aspects of what is taking place."
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-04-01T154937Z_01_COL146995_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-MCCAIN.xml&pageNumber=0&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage2

[240 is Back]

this one is hilarious!!!!

McCain said last week that it's safe to walk around in some places of baghdad, as an American.  War correspondents who have been there for years criticized that statement all week long.

Now, he's visiting to prove his point.  Bad move.

Chances are, next we'll learn about the extra security precautions that were put in place to ensure he could safely walk this market.  Instead of being a 2 day story, it'll become a 2 week story we remember.

[youandme]

What we don't get to read about how the market was searched and scanned for bombs prior to his 2 second stroll alongside of hundreds of American Military and special service agents. Ok Iraqis let this be a lesson if you want to be safe while buying fruit, hire a military service and bomb sniffing dogs to follow you everywhere you go.

[240 is Back]

What we don't get to read about how the market was searched and scanned for bombs prior to his 2 second stroll alongside of hundreds of American Military and special service agents. Ok Iraqis let this be a lesson if you want to be safe while buying fruit, hire a military service and bomb sniffing dogs to follow you everywhere you go.

And hopefully the media will be bold enough (read: do their jobs) and will see what was done prior to his visit and what security for him was like.

It's so funny that he's willing to travel halfway around the world to a warzone just to "back up" the statement he made which most people who live/work there would disagree with (certainly the war correspondents have said he is wrong).

McCain seems less presidential everyday.  He used to be above that fray, above the cowtowing to special interests and public opinion.  Perhaps this was done to get in front of today's revelation that he considered switching to dem party in 2001

[The Enigma]

What we don't get to read about how the market was searched and scanned for bombs prior to his 2 second stroll alongside of hundreds of American Military and special service agents. Ok Iraqis let this be a lesson if you want to be safe while buying fruit, hire a military service and bomb sniffing dogs to follow you everywhere you go.

McCain has zero credibility......after sucking up to Jerry Falwell.

[240 is Back]

100 armed american soldiers.

3 blackhawks flying overhead.



Yes, perfectly safe to walk around a baghdad market, as long as you have a miniature army with you.

[ribonucleic]

100 armed american soldiers.

3 blackhawks flying overhead.



Yes, perfectly safe to walk around a baghdad market, as long as you have a miniature army with you.

Don't forget the 2 Apache gunships.

And the bulletproof vest. 

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/01/mccain-iraq-stroll/

[ribonucleic]

<< I am sure you have already heard about the 100 soldiers, the three Blackhawk helicopters and two Apache gunships that accompanied his entourage, but did you hear about the soldiers who swept the area before the American legislators and their security team showed up?  Who cares about those mooks?  They are expendable.

John McCain and Lindsey Graham put American soldiers' lives at risk just so they could have a photo op.  That's the bottomline...

John McCain is completely full of shit.  He may be delusional but his survival instinct is still intact.  When he goes into a war zone he wants to be protected.  And U.S. soldiers carried out that mission yesterday so John McCain could try to hoodwink the American people into backing the surge and sending more troops into harms way.  I don't know about you, but that pisses me off. >>

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/2/115035/4641