McCain goes for a leisurely stroll in Baghdad

Sen. [tag]John McCain[/tag] (R-Ariz.) obviously thinks Americans are idiots. There’s no other explanation for his recent foolishness on Iraq, topped off yesterday by a fascinating [tag]shopping[/tag] trip to a [tag]Baghdad[/tag] market.

As you probably recall, a week ago McCain appeared on Bill Bennett’s radio program, toeing the right-wing line on “progress” in Iraq. “There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today,” McCain told Bennett. “The U.S. is beginning to succeed in Iraq.” The next day, McCain went even further, claiming that General Petraeus travels in Baghdad “almost every day in a non-armed Humvee.”

The claims weren’t just false, they were demonstrably ridiculous. But a funny thing happens to a liar when he’s caught — he has to keep scrambling to keep the lie alive.

At a press conference in the heavily-guarded Green Zone yesterday, McCain bragged about having just strolled through a Baghdad market for an hour. It was proof he said, that an American could “walk freely” in some areas of the city, just as he said last week.

TP has a clip from NBC News of exactly what “walking freely” means in Baghdad right now.

NBC’s Nightly News provided further details about McCain’s one-hour guided tour. He was accompanied by “100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead.” Still photographs provided by the military to NBC News seemed to show McCain wearing a bulletproof vest during his visit.

Funny, McCain didn’t mention the 100 American soldiers, three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships when he talked about how safe it was. It must have slipped his mind.



Of course, as any reasonable person could see, McCain set out to prove a point and ultimately proved the opposite. If the only way for an American to walk around Baghdad safely is to wear a bullet-proof vest, surrounded a massive military support network, then it still isn’t safe. McCain’s stupid stunt only served to prove how right his critics are.

And for McCain to argue, with a straight face, that his little shopping excursion proves his point about safety suggests he’s clearly gone over the credibility cliff. He apparently plans to lie shamelessly from now on. His opinion of Americans, and his respect for our intelligence, is just that low.

For that matter, as Newsweek noted, “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.”

Worse, around the same time as McCain’s heavily-guarded shopping spree, a market northeast of Baghdad was bombed, killing two.

And one last random thought: exactly how much did McCain’s stroll cost? How many resources had to be spent in order to provide support for the senator to foolishly try and prove some point? Was there, perhaps, a better use of 100 American soldiers, three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships at that time, or are political photo-ops now part of the military’s mission?