Local Iraqis react to McCain's "stroll"

By now, most of you have probably seen the coverage of McCain’s little stroll through downtown Baghdad [1]. You know, the leisurely promenade he took to show all those good little FOX News fans how the middle of a war zone is, in fact, as safe as downtown Detroit [2]. Seriously, safe as houses – as long as those houses are scrutinized and sanitized by a military explosives unit, surrounded by a crowd of informants, covered by an armed perimeter, and you're accompanied by 100 soldiers, three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships [3].

Look, I don’t fault the man for wanting to be safe. Hell, you won’t find me wandering outside the green zone without a fully-armed entourage. But this little photo-op was advertised as a demonstration of how safe conditions are in the city and that is a complete lie. Frankly, that pisses me off. And judging from the local reaction [4], it looks like I’m not the only one:

Jaafar Moussa Thamir, a 42-year-old who sells electrical appliances at the Shorja market that the Republican congressmen visited on Sunday, said the delegation greeted some fellow vendors with Arabic phrases but he was not impressed.

"They were just making fun of us and paid this visit just for their own interests," he said. "Do they think that when they come and speak few Arabic words in a very bad manner it will make us love them? This country and its society have been destroyed because of them and I hope that they realized that during this visit." … I didn't care about him, I even turned my eyes away," Thamir said. "We are being killed by the dozens everyday because of them. What were they trying to tell us? They are just pretenders."

And:

Karim Abdullah, a 37-year-old textile merchant, said the congressmen were kept under tight security and accompanied by dozens of U.S. troops.

"They were laughing and talking to people as if there was nothing going on in this country or at least they were pretending that they were tourists and were visiting the city's old market and buying souvenirs," he said. "To achieve this, they sealed off the area, put themselves in flak jackets and walked in the middle of tens of armed American soldiers."

John McCain: winning the hearts and minds of “liberated” Iraqi’s – a comedy farce brought to you by FOX News and the Flat Earth Society.

UPDATE: Big thanks to reader LaPopessa [5] who pointed out this [6] gem from the New York Times:

Several merchants said Monday that the Americans’ visit might have only made the market a more inviting target for insurgents.

“Every time the government announces anything — that the electricity is good or the water supply is good — the insurgents come to attack it immediately,” said Abu Samer, 49, who would give only his nickname out of concern for his safety. 

Comments

Kim Richard Smith (not verified)Tue, 2007-04-03 20:40

Re: Local Iraqis react to McCain's "stroll"

It's really odd, isn't it? The media seems to be paying more attention to guys like McCain than the woman down the street who claims she was impregnated by aliens.

LaPopessa (not verified)Tue, 2007-04-03 16:40

Re: Local Iraqis react to McCain's "stroll"

My favorite part is a NYT story that quotes some of the Iraqi shopkeepers as saying that every time the media make a big deal out of something working or being safe the insurgents attack it. So McCain was basically drawing a big nice target on their backs.

Thanks for the help, John?