I'm having a conversation, mostly with myself, about the question "who wants an escalation?" So I thought I'd add a little something here that struck me about that today (I'll be weaving in much more of the geostrategic aspects of this conversation as I go along):
About John McCain's "Magical Mystery Tour"...
The dissonance between the rhetoric of war (a term that's constantly misused in place of the more accurate term, occupation), and the rhetorical war mongering involved with the notion of now escalating what is really an occupation in which the vast majority of "enemy" is the disturbed and understandably distraught inhabitants of a country who didn't ask for democracy in the first place, or the collateral damage involved with this "gift" of the most blatant U.S. involvement in regime change since the institution of the National Endowment for Democracy in 1983, all of that combined in a witches brew of propaganda has put under seige whatever truth there might be about the conditions created by this occupation by U.S. military forces, and the geopolitical policies behind it.
So in this carnival of propaganda, we have Sunday, a politician who's desperate in his waning years to achieve the office of the presidency, a man who's judgement must be questioned after the way he's kissed up to this presidency after its cabal of public relations, character-smearing experts stole his chances for nomination in 2000 with its now well recognized campaign of rapacious slander, decided, despite knowing better from his own experiences in Vietnam, to make a visit to Iraq, under the cover of immense security, and proclaim it now "safer" than before, thanks to the security crackdown imposed with the now increasing number of troops to back it up.
McCain visits Baghdad, hails security crackdown
quote:
"BAGHDAD -- After a heavily guarded trip to a Baghdad market, Senator John McCain insisted yesterday that a US-Iraqi security crackdown in the capital was working and said Americans lacked a "full picture" of the progress. The US military later reported six soldiers were killed in roadside bombings southwest of Baghdad. "
So, interesting, someone from the mainstream media actually took the trouble to interview some people from the market McCain visited.
McCain Wrong on Iraq Security, Merchants Say
In regards to McCain's remarks about beneficial effects of the new "security crackdown":
quote:
“What are they talking about?” Ali Jassim Faiyad, the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the market, said Monday. “The security procedures were abnormal!”
The delegation arrived at the market, which is called Shorja, on Sunday with more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees — the equivalent of an entire company — and attack helicopters circled overhead, a senior American military official in Baghdad said. The soldiers redirected traffic from the area and restricted access to the Americans, witnesses said, and sharpshooters were posted on the roofs. The congressmen wore bulletproof vests throughout their hourlong visit.
“They paralyzed the market when they came,” Mr. Faiyad said during an interview in his shop on Monday. “This was only for the media.”
He added, “This will not change anything.”
quote:
During their visit on Sunday, the Americans were buttonholed by merchants and customers who wanted to talk about how unsafe they felt and the urgent need for more security in the markets and throughout the city, witnesses said.
“They asked about our conditions, and we told them the situation was bad,” said Aboud Sharif Kadhoury, 63, who peddles prayer rugs at a sidewalk stand. He said he sold a small prayer rug worth less than $1 to a member of the Congressional delegation. (The official paid $20 and told Mr. Kadhoury to keep the change, the vendor said.)
Mr. Kadhoury said he lost more than $2,000 worth of merchandise in the triple bombing in February. “I was hit in the head and back with shrapnel,” he recalled.
Ali Youssef, 39, who sells glassware from a sidewalk stand down the block from Mr. Kadhoury, recalled: “Everybody complained to them. We told them we were harmed.”
quote:
But those conversations were not reflected in the congressmen’s comments at the news conference on Sunday.
"I have squandered my resistance,
For a pocketful of mumbles, such are promises.
All lies and jest.
Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."
---Paul Simon, the Boxer
quote:
Instead, the politicians spoke of strolling through the marketplace, haggling with merchants and drinking tea. “The most deeply moving thing for me was to mix and mingle unfettered,” Mr. Pence said.
quote:
Mr. McCain was asked about a comment he made on a radio program in which he said that he could walk freely through certain areas of Baghdad.
“I just came from one,” he replied sharply. “Things are better and there are encouraging signs.”
He added, “Never have I been able to go out into the city as I was today.”
What's one man's opinion against the Senator's?:
quote:
Told about Mr. McCain’s assessment of the market, Abu Samer, a kitchenware and clothing wholesaler, scoffed: “He is just using this visit for publicity. He is just using it for himself. They’ll just take a photo of him at our market and they will just show it in the United States. He will win in America and we will have nothing.”
or these folks, what do they know?:
quote:
Several merchants said Monday that the Americans’ visit might have only made the market a more inviting target for insurgents.
quote:
“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.
"...and disregards the rest."
quote:
The delegation arrived at the market, which is called Shorja, on Sunday with more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees — the equivalent of an entire company — and attack helicopters circled overhead, a senior American military official in Baghdad said. The soldiers redirected traffic from the area and restricted access to the Americans, witnesses said, and sharpshooters were posted on the roofs. The congressmen wore bulletproof vests throughout their hourlong visit.
Today, in that very same market visited by the intrepid vote seeking politician whose poll numbers were declining before his trip:
quote:
"The latest massacre of Iraqi children came as 21 Shia market workers were ambushed, bound and shot dead north of the capital.
The victims came from the Baghdad market [Shurja] visited the previous day by John McCain, the US presidential candidate, who said that an American security plan in the capital was starting to show signs of progress." "
I wonder if his popularity will show improvement after his "Magical Mystery Tour," as Juan Cole coined it yesterday?
And for goodness sakes, as the President said the other day, let's not politicize these issues. You hear that you blubbering, spineless democrats?
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