Red State Renegade

After McCain’s stunt act walking the streets of Baghdad (see last post), CNN’s Wolf Blitzer talked with Kyra Philips about walking the streets of Baghdad:

BLITZER: Kyra, when you went out with General Petraeus this weekend and you walked around some streets in Baghdad, describe for us how much security he and you had.

PHILLIPS: I would probably say triple the presidential entourage, Wolf.

(LAUGHTER)

Now, I’m exaggerating a little bit, but in all seriousness, outer, inner, and perimeter security; sniper teams, personal security guards, humvees, helicopters — you name it.

That man cannot travel this country without security. And he even said to me, you know, we’d be in a lot of trouble — all these men around me would be in a lot of trouble if anything happened to me.

There’s a great responsibility. He is the general commanding all U.S. forces in Iraq. He has to have security. Anywhere he goes, he must be protected because he’s the man in charge of all the military action that’s happening in this country.

So, yes, we went through Dora Market, and we had security everywhere. He wore a soft cap. I didn’t wear a helmet. We felt comfortable. Why? We had lots of security.

BLITZER: But for average — I take it then — correct me if I’m wrong, Kyra, and you’ve been there for a few weeks now — for a U.S. soldier to simply leave his or her base and get into a car and drive to a coffee shop…

PHILLIPS: No, forget it.

And finally:

PHILLIPS: Everybody is at risk. There is not one type of individual that is safe in this country, including the extremists.

Emerging Wackjob and presidential hopeful John McCain took a trip to Iraq to defend his comments from last week on how it was now safe to walk some of Baghdad’s streets (see March 30).

To press his point he traveled in an armored convoy from the airport to the Green Zone rather than the normal means, by helicopter. He also wandered around a busy market (in full body armor) with General Petraeus to prove how rosy and wonderful life has become there since the troop surge.

McCain said that the security crackdown in Iraq was proving successful and that Americans lacked a “full picture’ of the progress.

Well if by progress, you mean “killing more Iraqis and US soldiers to satisfy the deranged visions of a handful of war mongering nut jobs until their time is up,” then the numbers support McCain:

Iraqis killed in February: 1806 (64.5/day)
Iraqis killed in March: 2078 (67/day)

Middle East expert Juan Cole, from the University of Michigan, responded:

“He said that only three days after the US embassy issued an order that personnel are to wear ‘personal protective equipment’ when moving between buildings inside the Green Zone!

He said it the day two suicide belt bombs were found inside the Green Zone. So he could ride in an armored car in from the airport. That’s the big achievement?

…Look, I lived in the midst of a civil war in the late 1970s in Beirut. I know exactly what it looks and smells like. The inexperienced often assume that when a guerrilla war or a civil war is going on, life grinds to a standstill. Not so. People go shopping for food. They drive where they need to go as long as they don’t hear that there is a firefight in that area. They go to work if they still have work. Life goes on. It is just that, unexpectedly, a mortar shell might land near you. Or the person ahead of you in line outside the bakery might fall dead, victim of a sniper’s bullet. The bazaars are bustling some days (all the moreso because it is good to stock up on supplies the days when the violence isn’t so bad). So nothing that John McCain saw in Baghdad on Sunday meant a damn thing. Not a goddamn thing.

It makes my blood boil.”

John Mccain was on The Situatiom Room with Wolf Blitzer several days ago:

BLITZER: Here’s what you told Bill Bennett on his radio show on Monday:

“There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today…The U.S. is beginning to succeed in Iraq.”

BLITZER: You know, everything we hear, that if you leave the so-called green zone, the international zone, and you go outside of that secure area, relatively speaking, you’re in trouble if you’re an American.

MCCAIN: You know, that’s why you ought to catch up on things, Wolf…General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed Humvee…(blah blah blah)

BUT THE BEST PART CAME AFTER, as Wolf went live to Baghdad and Correspondent Michael Ware.

After verifying that Mr. Ware has been in Baghdad for four years now, this exchange occurred:

BLITZER: You’re walking around Baghdad on a daily basis..Has there been this improvement that Senator McCain is speaking about?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I’d certainly like to bring Senator McCain up to speed, if he ever gives me the opportunity. And if I have any difficulty hearing you right now, Wolf, that’s because of the helicopter circling overhead and the gun battle that is blazing just a few blocks down the road.

…None of the American generals here on the ground have anything like Senator McCain’s confidence.

…I mean, Senator McCain’s credibility now on Iraq, which has been so solid to this point, has now been left out hanging to dry.

…To suggest that there’s any neighborhood in this city where an American can walk freely is beyond ludicrous. I’d love Senator McCain to tell me where that neighborhood is and he and I can go for a stroll.

…And to think that General David Petraeus travels this city in an unarmed Humvee. I mean in the hour since Senator McCain has said this, I’ve spoken to some 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. There’s attack helicopters, predator drones, sniper teams, all sorts of layers of protection.

…So, no, Senator McCain is way off base on this one — Wolf.