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Boys look at a pool of bloodied water at the scene of Thursday's bomb attack, in Baghdad, March 30, 2007. (Kareem Raheem/Reuters)
Good ole John McCain went shopping today with his buddy Lindsay Graham... and while we know that Lindsay scored 5 ... count 'em 5 ... rugs in the .... marketplace for only $5, John it seems just felt like selling us more of his happy talk. In his "testy" press conference following their shopping trip, McCain told us all about how much better Iraq is doing under the surge.
Raed Jarrar has a few things to say about McCain's expedition:
Dear John
I read about your latest trip to Baghdad in articles like "McCain, in Baghdad, says city is safer than before," " McCain lauds security during Baghdad visit," and "McCain Sees Improvement in Iraq." I'm sure you wanted to stage a "Shopping in Baghdad" spree to show us how great and safe baghdad is, and to encourage more Americans to go do their Shopping in downtown Baghdad, but I'm not sure your plan has worked.
It doesn't seem like good security to me when one shop-owner in Shorja, which was closed to traffic after the February bombings, said there had been a heavy security presence, with many U.S. soldiers on the ground and U.S. helicopters overhead. I don't think many Iraqis can afford to hire some hundreds of bodyguards and a few helicopters to protect them while they are shopping. Do you realize how would it be for a regular Iraqi to go shopping without the US army's protection, do you realize how your shopping spree would have looked like if you went to a real market with cars driving around?
(snip)
As Raed goes on to note, it's a little hard to buy the fun shopping tale when faced with reality. IN fact, McCain's spree was followed within hours with the news of the Six U.S. soldiers killed by roadside bombs in Iraq. And we read, from Al Aswat, that at Touz Khormato two people were killed and four others were wounded in an explosive device blast that ripped through a market in this district northeast of Baghdad at about the same time.
Other local sources are reporting that Falluja may slip out of U.S. control:, Violence overwhelms Mosul: and that the City of Hilla is under curfew as violence spreads beyond Baghdad.
And as a Newsweek blog reported in A Sunday Stroll in Iraq's Capital:
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.
Add in the fact that McCain has the gall to make his claims of progress in the same week in which we learned that violence in Iraq is up by 15%, that Iraqi casualities topped 2,000 for the month of March and US casualities were 80 (double that of Iraqi forces) and I think Raed puts it best:
How does it feel when you can't stop lying? ... Does this look like an improvement to you? I don't know whether you don't know the facts, or whether you know and just prefer to continue telling lies to the public.
Dear John, leave us alone. Go shop elsewhere and let Iraqis and Americans find a better option than continuing this expensive and pointless war.
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First?
it’s all yours Steve!
Graham went shopping while McLame (ideas, not his physical disabilities) was only selling. More of the standard barnyard odure. Aka, b*ll sh*t!
McCain’s “stroll” today through a Baghdad market was guarded by 100 American soldiers, three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
Don’t forget the bullet-proof vest. Do they sell those at the market now?
are we daring them to try to shoot our planes down - so bush and his friends have a “reason” to bomb them to hell?
If McCain really believes what he says, and I am suspicious that Bush, Cheney, Rove and most other Republicans seriously think what they think is true, then we are a country ruled by lunatics and maniacs. And if this is the case, and I have no reason to doubt that it is, then the real madness has already begun. In the Middle East.
I thought it was unfair that the right wing said John was nuts during the run-up to 2000. It is sad but they were right. Real progress being made. March was the worst month for Iraqi deaths since December and eight troops (6 US KIA, 1 UK KIA and 1 US non-combat but just as dead) killed on Monday while John and Lindsay went shopping.
The best one was Andrea Mitchell saying some Republicans voted for the surge, knowing it was hopeless, in-order to run out the political clock until September. If the Pope is right and the fires of Hell are real then these people will burn for eternity.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 8
OKKiddo: Did you see the link on Carlyle I left in last thread?
Frank Probst @ 5
5 for $5.
It seems to me McCain may already be afflicted with Alzheimers. I’d say suffering, but that implies they don’t deserve it and he’s one who does.
Selise … I wondered about that too … they made a point of “not” flying over Iran when they had the naval war games but …
selise @ 6
Duh. Any excuse is good enuf.
Frank Probst @
5
Buy 5 rugs and receive a FREE bullet-proof vest. Sale ends Monday ; )
An attack on Iran is very much in play.
epu-d from last thread: we need to revive the ‘credibility gap’ phraseology wrt both McCain & w.
Siun @ 13
well, at least it sounds like the “bait” wasn’t taken.
sigh. i fear we are governed by idiots with a deficiency of empathy.
Along with everything else, I was stunned that these creeps bragged about getting such a bargain at a market that has been devastated over and over … in some of the reports, they mentioned that shopkeepers did not accept payment for “the souvenirs” …
Baghdadi’s are starving and merchants are devastated and yet John and Lindsay and buds are haggling.
dakine01 @ 10
No. But I’ll go back and take a look. Thanks.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 14
The Nimitz carrier battle group will leave San Diego Monday for the Gulf. In about two weeks there will be three Carrier battle groups in the Gulf. The Eisenhower is supposed to be replaced by the Nimitz, want to bet that their tour is extended?
Kudos to NBC for not playing along with this farce. But where were the video cameras? McCain rarely does anything that’s not on camera. Why don’t we have video of him haggling with vendors at the market? Or would all those helicoptors and gunships have been distracting? Seriously, we the media even allowed in? I thought the whole point of an open-air market is that just about anyone can go.
Siun @ 12
They always flew over Iraq airspace to locate the radar stations.
Makes me nervous w President Bombs aLot still around
Frank … there were no pics last I checked of the whole market visit … but we do have some mighty weird pics of McCain in the Green Zone - the guy does not look healthy!
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/sm/1479/p:1
click through those to get to today’s McCain pics
Cozumel @ 14
Maybe so but what matters is how it played in the media. Reality… not so much.
Steve @ 21
I’m still trying to figure out how we’re going to justify it. The 15 Brits aren’t enough to justify a strike, particularly since no one can agree if they were in Iranian waters to begin with. I think the people in charge in Iran know what the score is, and they’re not going to take any “bait”. Normally, I’d expect Bush to just make something up, but the entire world is watching, and nobody believes a word he says. Any guesses? How are we going to get drawn into this? Is there some way they can connect Iran to 9/11?
eCAHNomics @
16
I think it is more of a credibility chasm than gap given the size of their whoppers.
The whole thing just seemed surreal. He’s trying to tell reporters in Baghdad how safe the city is. They seemed be saying, “Dude, we’re HERE IN BAGHDAD. The fact that we’re in the room with you should’ve clued you in. Are you really trying to sell this shit to us?”
dakine01 @ 26
No objection from me. Only trying to tie viscerally into Nixon & VN. Something to be said for that.
Frank Probst @ 27
“Sh*t for sale. I’ve got sh*t for sale!”
“I’ve got nothing for sale. Absolutely nothing for sale!”
All right movie buffs, it’s an easy one.
Graham paid five bucks, but how much did we pay? 100 troops, several helicopters, and who knows what else?
eCAHNomics @ 28.
The Ron Ziegler school of press relations has a lot of graduates in Chimpy’s admin and the Republic party.
Frank - this was striking:
WITH GUNS, BUT NO GUTS
Gwynne Dyer
Fifth Column
“I don’t want to second-guess the British after the fact,” said US navy lieutenant-commander, Erik Horner, “but our rules of engagement allow a little more latitude. Our boarding team’s training is a little bit more towards self-preservation.” Does that mean that one of his American boarding teams would have opened fire if it had been on any one of the two inflatable boats that were surrounded by Iranian Revolutionary Guard fast patrol boats off the coast of Iraq? “Agreed. Yes.”
Just as well that it was a British boarding team then. The fifteen British sailors and marines who were captured and taken to Tehran for “questioning” are undoubtedly having an unpleasant time, but they are alive, and Britain is only involved in two wars, in Iraq and in Afghanistan. If it had been one of Horner’s boarding teams, they would all be dead, and the United States of America and Iran would now be at war.
Horner is the executive officer of the USS Underwood, the American frigate that works together with HMS Cornwall, the British ship that the captive boarding party came from. Interviewed after the incident by Terri Judd of The Independent, the only British print journalist on HMS Cornwall, he was obviously struggling to be polite about the gutless Brits, but he wasn’t having much success.
“The US Navy rules of engagement say we have not only a right to self-defence but also an obligation to self-defence,” Horner explained. “(The British) had every right in my mind and every justification to defend themselves rather than allow themselves to be taken. Our reaction was, Why didn’t your guys defend themselves?”
(snip)
With Guns, no Guts
This column has appeared in a wide range of foreign press - esp in the ME
Perhaps they’ll attack Iran just because they can. If you’ve got a president who claims that he and God have conversions, I don’t know that we’re talking stability. Or rationality. And almost all of the Republicans support this administration down the line on Iraq. And I’m not just talking about Republican politicians.
Siun @ 32
Kabuki here, only I don’t know the rules.
dakine01 @ 30
It’s good to be the king.
Siun- apologies for the OT, but I left kirk a note downstairs re: his search for the plan. Kirk?
MY GOD WHAT A HORRIBLE PICTURE!!
These warmongers and their pseudo-jingo, enablers need this type photo!!
Feel this… you war mongering asshole, emperor wanna-be!
$5 for five carpets? That’s not a good deal; that’s the shop owner, quivering in fear, wanting them out of his shop as soon as humanly possible. Bragging about those prices is obscene, because they’re not natural in any possible way. That’s not haggling — it’s just bizarre.
The visuals can’t work for them, because the bullet-proof vest is so prominent. And I wonder how those 100 Soldiers felt, enabling a photo op?
So deeply, deeply weird.
“Our boarding team’s training is a little bit more towards self-preservation.”
Ironic, seeing as he went on to say that his boarding team would have been slaughtered.
neon left you a message last thread at 136 i think about meeting with others in your area. nice bunch it seems.
nite all
good job siun
Frank Probst @ 35
I DID say it was easy.
Respectful Dissent - precisely!
On the bright side, I’m really glad the media aren’t telling us how great St John’s new clothes look.
Next, they need to ask our Attorney General if–given the severity of his recent memory lapses–he has sought the advice of a neurologist or had a brain MRI.
As a gay man, am I allowed this catty remark? Lindsay Graham crowing about getting 5 rugs for 5 dollars? Confirming all my gaydar…
Can’t those kids staring at the bloody water do something useful like weave a carpet for American consumers???????????????????????????
eCAHNomics @
16
Yup. Credibility Gap is now Credibility Canyon.
Veritas … I thought I would leave that to one of our experts … merci!
one report described Lindsay as “gushing” over his new rugs
Siun @ 32
Definitely kabuki. I’m also trying ot remember my basic UCMJ stuff i memorized 12 years ago. But i do remember that the shoot first is not ‘defence’. That’s offence of the worst sort. Shows the difference in the training in this long a time, and what they’re getting away with as well.
granted, i wasn’t in long enough to end up learning the rules of engagement myself. I still smell something foul in that man’s words though. I
really don’t like it.
Respectful Dissent @
38
Yupper.
Let’s see McCain try that without the helicopter gunships overhead. Heck, we’ll even spot him the hundred troops.
Siun– you are a treasure.
This is an unforgiveable and ongoing tragedy.
Veritas78 @ 45
I’m going to have to disagree here. Our people do like to crow about rug bargains, but 5 for $5 is embarassingly low. Every gay man I know would haggle the price UP, just so he wouldn’t have to say he got it for a buck.
(”And girl, you should have SEEN the hundred soldiers who were escorting me! I wanted to put those rugs to good use right then and there!”)
Respectful Dissent @ 38
Exactly right - barganing an equitable price gets hampered a bit when one party as a freakin’ army behind him.
Kathryn in MA @ 52
Let’s just hope those rugs weren’t from the Baghdad Museum
I am really disgusted by this shopping expedition. (duh!) Brought to mind some comment by Bush after 911 urging people to just keep calm and go shopping. Like, of course, this is the answer. In the Bushco McCain Graham Disneyland world. No wonder we are hated and reviled by most of the world.
herr lindsay graham today scored the deal of his lifetime in the Lodz Ghetto.
“5 dollars for 5 carpets. what a deal! See how happy everybody is!!!”
At the rate this Uncivil war is progressing, Mr. Bush’s exhausted army may be thrown out of Iraq before the Democrats withdraw them with honor. Pity Mr. Bush thinks that changing his mind, or reading, are such unmanly things to do, while the men he commands risk all for his pleasure.
Re the Prince turning down dinner with Prez… Someone wondered what it might mean. FYI here’s my reply:
Hi [],
Imagine that! Turning down dinner with a Strawman. And doing it noisily, too. Surely an attention-getter. I do not know what it means, but there are “givens” that cannot be ignored.
“…the petrogame of “I hold you by your heat/light/power arteries” is getting interestinger and interestinger. And wilder.”
And especially as more leaders spot the petro-game and also consider ramifications of Peak Oil and Peak-like Gas and Peak-like Coal. And Peak-like Weapons like rpg’s that penetrate 5 feet of reactive-armor-protected reinforced concrete; 600 mph torpedos; 2000-mile remote-controlled drones accurate to 10 feet; and oh-by-the -way would you define nuclear weapons as including dispersal of deadly-for-generations depleted U-2L8 dust?
The Saud clan’s roots are devoted to survival against surrounding enemies. Whether local or global, the perceived threats are studied carefully and responses are diligently honed as part of a plan for survival and expansion of their status as rulers; an outrageous artificial construct that auto-creates oppositions.
The USDollar hegemony of crude-oil sales is already visibly cracked and weakening to where is it becomes conceivable that it is unenforceable. Whither USDollar deposits? Whither our USDollar?
The doubling and tripling of crude prices has undermined a prime method that restricted who was entitled to play the petrogame. Now, many more outsiders have the ability to produce oil/gas from formerly cost-prohibitive sources. Nearly all the low cost low-hung fruit is gone.
The equisitely balanced leverage that governed the intentions of the oilfield owners and the crude oil developer/distributors is changing.
[We keep you on the throne and control distribution of your crude; you deposit $USD revenues in our banks.]Aggressive actions are the offspring as the balanced leverage is perceived to favor one side. The survival of the Saud clan status was based on joint partnership of oil exploitation. It still is, but the nature and magnitude of the oppositions threaten. What if their partner turns out to be a Paper Tiger?
Oops! Do you see where this silly, imaginitive blathering is going? How can anyone’s mad dream of World Domination go to conclusion… if, if, if …THEY… are still around? You know. THEY. The unmentionable who has been the takeover target for 200 years and consistently given indigestion to every colonial bite. Every time.
And THEY know full well THEY remain the final barrier to global control of the planet by a clique. What stupid, paranoid mong… er… ah…morons THEY must be. But first, the clique has to neutralize Iran. Hahaha. Only kidding.
That was a fun story I read in a comic blog. Sorry to digress
Valley Girl @ 54
It is pretty revolting that he’s buying souvenirs from a war zone
Hey Gang! a photo of McCain shopping just appeared on an Australian blog - I’ve added a note above (refresh) or click here:
Ah. McCain!
“Montel does your psychic guest have any clue about my future?”
“Well Lindsay as you know karma’s a bitch. Expect tornadoes and hurricanes. Lots and lots and lots and lots.”
I hope nobody tells Lindsay that the best rugs are made a few hundred miles to the east—in Iran.
US$5.00 for carpets, US$500,000 for security and transport. Mr. Graham should declare a customs value for his “bargain” of about $505,000, which will cost him, oh, about $50,000 in duty. Pretty much defines what this administration calls a “bargain”.
McCain was laughed off the set last week when he said you could walk the streets of Baghdad safely. He’s not so big on being laughed at by all of America, so he decided to “prove” his point. Now we’re all laughing hilariously.
Except that the situation in Iraq is so sad.
Veritas - I was reading last night that it runs at least $1,000 to buy a rug in Iran … of course, with regime change, maybe Lindsay can do something about that too!
Just LOVE comments about going shopping, gaydar on rugs, all tangentially connected material.
Murphyslaw @ 62
Bingo
1. On McCain: to me, he’s gone from someone I would strongly debate against…to someone I now just laugh at. I just wonder if he has ANY idea how foolish he comes off? Who knows.
2. the Brit crisis: I remain puzzled at what some at the WH would call the “tick-tock” of the capture. I’ve read ONE report that the Cornwall was some 5-6 miles away from the boarding party & boarded ship. Huh?
a) I think the 5-6 mile report must be an error? That’s a Looong distance for the “mother ship” to be from it’s boarding crew. Ships usually want to pull in to…oh, maybe 3-5 hundrd YARDS from the target ship.
b) did the capture happen before or after the target ship was boarded?
c) if before…why didn’t Cornwall detect approach of these gunboats and warn them off?
d) why didn’t the boarding party itself, while on the target ship, spot the approach of the gunboats? Wasn’t anyone on overwatch?
Perhaps good answers are out there, but the Brits are just, for the moment clamping down on such discussion. But it sure makes me scratch my head.
Ghostman
The world’s stupidest photo op.
My first thought on the rugs was “I hope he gets socked on customs duty’. The second was ‘The previous owner sold those in order to eat - or to get out of Iraq’.
McCain and Graham are clueless and likely to stay that way.
http://www.commondreams.org/ar.....03/31/207/
Ghostman - very interesting questions. There’s a lot to the Iranian situation that we’re not being told.
Cozumel @ 66
Artworks do not incur customs’s duties. On return from China in summer 01, got away with $5,000. While that is not $505,000, principal is the same & order of magnitude works out just right for Rs.
Of course, Lindsay’s a Republican, so he’s probably hawking his wares on eBay right now. “In near-mint condition: bloodstains will come out with a little soda water!!”
Siun @ 59
Great pic! He looks oh so relaxed on his shopping spree, too. And I notice in the blog comments that the term “Repug” is in use even in Oz!
Cassie @ 69
Umm, close. But McCain has already set his own standard for those–cutting his birthday cake with the Preznident while NOLA was getting the crap kicked out of it by Katrina….
Angie - amazing piece in that link. Thank you!
Veritas78 @ 44
For $1 a carpet, they’ve got to be monstrously tacky though …
And you know, I never want to see them. Because if we ever see them, it’s because he’s somehow brought them up in the media again and no matter whether they’re machine-made trash or hand-woven treasures, the whole thing is gag-inducing.
(BTW, how gratifying to spawn, like, 4 other comments in this thread? For an occasional poster, that’s quite a response … especially from the likes of Siun, Phoenix Woman, et al … )
Siun, thanks for the updated link to StMcCain that you added to your post.
text: ~~The story points out that accompanying McCain were: “100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead.” And that’s either a fishing vest or body armour he’s wearing.
Nonetheless, McCain told reporters: “that his visit to the market today was proof that you could indeed ‘walk freely’ in some areas of Baghdad.” ~~~
McCain is going to need a magic carpet of he becomes prez. I really believe this man has lost it. He went over the top awhile ago. McCain, Rudy, Newtie and Mutt Romney. The best the gop can come up with? Cream of the crop?
Oklahoma kiddo @ 79
don’t forget the law and order dude.
VG- it’s body armour … I suspect of better quality than the troops around him.
Hmmm.
Hi firepups? -
Three questions:
1) What are you hearing about (if anything) about groups planning/obtaining permits for DC mass gatherings for Iran peace?
2) Could we on the Lake help spark the organizing? Should we?
3) Might direct personal outreach (via email) to senior Pentagon planners/officers help carry mass citizen support for peace with Iran? Could/should the Lake help to share this tool for intervention with the progressive blogosphere?
[oh - I’ll share my answer to # 1. I’m not hearing of anything substantial, and the logistics folks I know don’t aren’t hearing of any real efforts. That may well mean no one has stepped forward…
with all the potential energy, a small group could catalyze a massive planning cascade….
hence the questions for the Lake]
______________________
and Valley Girl - thanks for your answer on the prior thread!
perfect angie
Siun - I never have anything to add but want you to know I read and appreciate these posts
but wait! yes you are correct about his body armor, didn’t Condi actually get busted for that very thing last year and then tried a “this old thing ? I just put on what they gave me”
Siun @ 81
Siun- I had no doubt that was the case- I was just quoting the article you linked.
Yes, of course it is of better quality than what the troops have. Because McCain is special.
Like, so, it’s so easy for someone, like ordinary Iraqis to go shopping. All you need is for this is:
100 American soldiers,
three Blackhawk helicopters,
two Apache gunships overhead,
better body armour than US troops have,
and a partridge in a pear tree/ or a life time ticket to Disneyland.
Siun @ 64
Ah, well, depends on the type of rug, its size, its materials, workmanship, etc.
Here’s a bit of trivia: the enforcement of the No-Fly Zones during the 90s spawned an unlikely class of consumers for fine hand-woven Middle Eastern rugs: US military personnel, specifically USAF pilots and other officers. Repeated rotations to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey meant some folks could build a high degree of knowledge of what makes a fine quality rug from the dealers outside the gate … and despite the official prohibitions on the importation of Iranian/Persian carpets, the rugs were often characterized as of “Eastern Turkish” origin when it came time to mail or bring them home. ‘Cause they came from Iran over the mountains on mules and in trucks.
Graham is? was? a reserve AF JAG, so I wonder if he ever deployed to Northern Watch … and I wonder if anyone would balk now at the grey-market trade that obviously brought some money into Iran!
lolo @ 80
I know I left out a few. And of course Tommy Thompson, another Republican giant. ;0)
I am beginning to think that Bush & CO. are actually letting things in Iraq get more and more out of control.
In recent weeks conditions are clearly deteriorating. I wonder if the US military has been ordered to stand down so that the chaos makes it look like US presence is really a necessity.
http://www.informationclearing.....e17449.htm
Off topic, but I just saw this picture of “Jesus and his peeps“, and wanted to share it here because I’d seen a number of Peep-centric posts on this blog recently.
chuteh says
Here’s an interesting commentary…
Siun @ 32
Dyer’s been a defense correspondent for a number of years. His War: A Commentary is a must-see for anyone who’s interested in what military power means in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/f.....A963948260
It gets better gang! WaPo here and I’ve added more above in the post - refresh to see it:
Pence said he was deeply moved by his ability to “mix and mingle unfettered among ordinary Iraqis” and to have tea and haggle over the price of a rug. The Shorja market, he said, was “like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summer time.”
Wapo
I said it a couple of threads ago (via link to the shopping spree story) and I’ll say it again: McCain is living in a dream world.
Siun @
91
Oh god! It’s just like a county fair. Minor note to all- F5 reload not refresh to see Siun’s addition.
I wonder if the Iranians knew the sailors and marines were British rather than American? Sounds like this could have been the incident bush seems to be looking for, if it had been Americans and they decided to start shooting.
Frank Probst @
25
Bush has gone so far over the edge,he has already justified it. He is the only President who has the “moral character” to take on Iran. For the American People, “I am the decider” is enough explanation. There will be no pseudo-logic as for the Iraq war. Bush has gone way beyond that.
The issue will be the military. Will they go along? The Air-force will, and they hope it will get to nukes. It’s the senior Naval Officers that have their balls in a vice. Are they willing to violate civilian control and say no. It would amount to a passive coup to save the country but a very bad thing to do for our form of government.
Cassie @