Visiting Iraq, McCain Cites Progress on Safety Issues
By Sudarsan Raghavan and Saad al-Izzi
Washington Post
BAGHDAD, April 1 -- After a heavily guarded walk through a newly fortified Baghdad market, Sen. John McCain declared that the American public was not getting "a full picture" of the progress unfolding in Iraq.
McCain (Ariz.), who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, cited a drop in murders, the creation of a constellation of joint U.S.-Iraqi military outposts and a rise in intelligence tips as signs of the progress.
"These and other indications are reason for cautious optimism," McCain said, voicing an observation increasingly heard from U.S. officials.
The senator and three other Republican members of Congress appeared most impressed by their visit to Shorja market, citing the hour they spent there as proof that Baghdad was getting safer under a nearly seven-week-old security offensive.
(Continued here.)
Washington Post
BAGHDAD, April 1 -- After a heavily guarded walk through a newly fortified Baghdad market, Sen. John McCain declared that the American public was not getting "a full picture" of the progress unfolding in Iraq.
McCain (Ariz.), who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, cited a drop in murders, the creation of a constellation of joint U.S.-Iraqi military outposts and a rise in intelligence tips as signs of the progress.
"These and other indications are reason for cautious optimism," McCain said, voicing an observation increasingly heard from U.S. officials.
The senator and three other Republican members of Congress appeared most impressed by their visit to Shorja market, citing the hour they spent there as proof that Baghdad was getting safer under a nearly seven-week-old security offensive.
(Continued here.)
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1 Comments:
ABC News reported that there were 100 armed military in the marketplace protecting McCain and his entourage … plus helicopters overhead. Be sure to note that in paragraphs 18 and 19 of the WP story, it describes how the streets were closed and people were not allowed to cross the street.
I appreciate McCain’s objective of trying to show that it may be safer (which you may infer if you only read the headline of the story), but it leaves me with the impression that McCain is joining Bush in his fantasy bubble.
I will give McCain credit for going there. Other Republican presidential candidates were paying homage to the Club for Growth in Palm Beach and our own Senator Coleman was campaigning in Waseca … oh, and in case you missed it Keith Ellison is going to Syria which is where Coleman needs to go.
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