http://checkpointbaghdad.talk.newsweek.com/default.asp?item=551096Ahh springtime in Baghdad - or is it campaign season in the United States? As political theater goes, McCain couldn't have asked for much more. On a radio talk show last week, the Arizona senator said, "There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through - today." Later in the week, CNN reporter Michael Ware blasted the claim, "I don't know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad." He later added, "I'd love Senator McCain to tell me where that neighborhood is, and he and I can go for a stroll." (Videos of both McCain's and Ware's comments have been big hits on YouTube).
Well, here was McCain strolling, strutting in fact, in Baghdad. And he wasn't done yet. At the presser, McCain, who was testy throughout, pointed out that the delegation had driven into town from the airport, rather than fly in Blackhawk helicopters like most VIPs. He also cited a drop in the murder rate as a sign of progress and got in one final dig: "American people are not getting the full picture of what's happening here." No guesses who McCain blames for that. "The media has a responsibility to report all aspects of what's taking place," he said.
Yes, the media again. In the interest of presenting the full picture then, I think it should be pointed out that McCain and his fellow senators were accompanied to the market by a small army, upwards of 50 soldiers according to a source who accompanied the group on the stroll. Just another day at the market. And even though McCain cited a drop in violence, Agence France Presse on Sunday quoted an Iraqi official who reported a 15 percent increase in violence across Iraq in March. According to their tally, 2,078 civilians, cops and soldiers were killed last month, 272 more fatalities than in February.
In any case, it didn't take the insurgents long to send their reply. Less then 30 minutes after McCain wrapped up, a barrage of half a dozen mortars peppered the boundaries of the Green Zone, where the senators held their press conference. Though he was argumentative, McCain wasn't completely out of touch on Sunday. Admitting "we have a long way to go," the 2008 presidential candidate acknowledged that previous rosy assessments have been inaccurate. "I'm not saying 'mission accomplished,' 'last throes' or 'dead enders.'"
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/01/graham-mccain-rugs/Graham’s Signs Of Progress In Iraq: ‘I Bought Five Rugs For Five Bucks’
Today, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) held a press conference in Iraq. Both McCain and Graham charged that the media are not giving the American people “the full picture of what’s happening here.” As evidence of progress, they spoke of the time they were able to spend in the Bab al-Sharqi market, at which 88 people died in suicide bomber attack on Jan. 22. “We went to the market and were just really warmly welcomed. I bought five rugs for five bucks. And people were engaging,” said Graham.
What McCain and Graham didn’t mention: CNN’s Bob Franken noted today that the senators’ press conference was “held in the very, very, very heavily secured Green Zone, the center city area of Baghdad.” Additionally, the “delegation was accompanied by heavily armed U.S. troops when they were not in the Green Zone, site of the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government. They traveled in armored military vehicles under heavy guard.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/27/ware-mccain-iraq/CNN: Military Sources Respond To McCain’s Escalation Remark With ‘Laughter Down The Line’
Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told radio host Bill Bennett that President Bush’s escalation is working. “There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today,” he said. Today, when CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked McCain why Americans still aren’t able to safely leave the Green Zone in Iraq, the senator replied that Blitzer was giving three-month-old talking points:
General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed humvee. I think you oughta catch up. You are giving the old line of three months ago. I understand it. We certainly don’t get it through the filter of some of the media.
But according to CNN reporter Michael Ware, who has been in Iraq for four years, McCain is “way off base.” He stated, “To suggest that there’s any neighborhood in this city where an American can walk freely is beyond ludicrous. I’d love Sen. McCain to tell me where that neighborhood is and he and I can go for a stroll.”
Ware also rebutted McCain’s assertion that Petaeus travels in an unarmed humvee: “
n the hour since Sen. McCain’s said this, I’ve spoken to military sources and there was laughter down the line. I mean, certainly the general travels in a humvee. There’s multiple humvees around it, heavily armed.”
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