McCain's Potemkin Village

Joe Conason - The New York Observer

04.04.07 - Both Iraqis and Americans alike were stunned by the audacity of Senator John McCain's heavily publicized (and heavily armed) excursion through Baghdad's Shorja market last weekend. There was the leading proponent of the war on Capitol Hill, setting out to confirm his recent claim that the escalation of U.S. forces is greatly improving conditions on the ground, accompanied by a handful of Congressional colleagues. He seemed to think nobody would notice that their little shopping trip also included a platoon of soldiers, three Black Hawk choppers and two Apache gunships.

Neither the Iraqi merchants used as props in this strange exercise nor the American voters who were its intended targets could possibly have been deceived by such a charade. So the question that inevitably arises is whether Mr. McCain and company are still attempting to dupe us -- or whether they have finally duped themselves.

Consider the happy talk from Representative Mike Pence, an ultraconservative Indiana Republican who has visited Iraq on several occasions. At the press conference that inevitably followed the Shorja photo op, Mr. Pence said he had been inspired by the opportunity to "mix and mingle unfettered among ordinary Iraqis," drinking tea and haggling over carpets. To him, the Baghdad shops were "like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summer time." Senator Lindsey Graham, the McCain sidekick and Republican of South Carolina, boasted of buying "five rugs for five bucks," marveling that "just a few weeks ago, hundreds of people, dozens of people were killed in the same place."

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