McCain In Iraq: "Signs Are Encouraging"

(CBS/AP)  After a heavily guarded trip to a Baghdad market, Sen. John McCain insisted Sunday that a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown in the capital was working and said Americans lacked a "full picture" of the progress.

McCain, a Republican presidential hopeful who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, acknowledged a difficult task lies ahead in Iraq, but criticized the media for not giving Americans enough information about the recent drop in execution-style sectarian killings, the establishment of security posts throughout the city and Sunni tribal efforts against al Qaeda in the western Anbar province.

"These and other indicators are reason for cautious, very cautious optimism about the effects of the new strategy," said McCain, who was leading a Republican congressional delegation to Iraq that included Sen. Lindsey Graham.

McCain, R-Ariz., was combative during the news conference, refusing to respond to a question about whether the U.S. had plans to attack Iran. He also replied testily to a question about remarks he had made in the United States last week that it was safe to walk some Baghdad streets.

"Things are better and there are encouraging signs. I've been here ... many times over the years. Never have I been able to drive from the airport, never have I been able go out into the city as I was today," he said.

"I'm not saying 'mission accomplished,' 'last throes,' 'dead-enders' or any of that. It's long and it's hard and it's very, very difficult," he said. "I believe that the signs are encouraging, but please don't interpret one comment of mine in any way to indicate that this isn't a long, difficult struggle."

Members of the delegation spoke at a Green Zone news conference after they rode from Baghdad's airport in armored vehicles and under heavy guard to visit the city's largest market, which was been hit by several recent bombings, including one in February that killed 137 people. They said the trips were proof that security was improving in the capital. Prominent visitors normally make the trip from the airport to the city center by helicopter.

The congressmen, who wore body armor during their hourlong shopping excursion, said they were impressed with the resilience and warmth of the Iraqi people, some of whom would not take money for their souvenirs. They were accompanied by the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus.

While the capital has seen a recent dip in violence as extra U.S. and Iraqi troops have flooded the streets, an Iraqi military spokesman said that militants fleeing the crackdown have made areas outside the capital "breeding grounds for violence," spreading deadly bombings and sectarian attacks to areas once relatively untouched.

With U.S. voters increasingly impatient with the conduct of the war and the American death toll rising, Democrats in the House and Senate have pushed through funding bills with timetables for withdrawing U.S. forces. The measures need to be reconciled before they are sent to President Bush, who has promised a veto.

Graham said setting a deadline would be a "huge mistake" and Bush would be right to use his veto because the security plan — to which Bush has pledged 30,000 extra American troops — was working.

The delegation included Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., and Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz.

In Other Developments:

Six U.S. soldiers were killed in roadside bombings southwest of Baghdad, the military reported. The military said the four soldiers died as they where responding to the first explosion which killed two. The names of the soldiers were not released.

U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Mark Fox said two suicide vests were found unexploded Saturday in the Green Zone, less than a week after a rocket attack killed two Americans in the vast central Baghdad district where the U.S. and British embassies and key offices of the Iraqi government are located.

A top Iraqi official is calling on Sunnis and Shiites to abandon acts of revenge and live together in peace. Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni Muslim, made the appeal in a televised speech marking the Prophet Muhammad's birthday. He said after "hundreds of thousands" have been killed or maimed, the time has come to "change the culture of revenge with the culture of forgiveness."

An Iraqi military spokesman said Sunday that militants fleeing a security crackdown in Baghdad have made areas outside the capital "breeding grounds for violence" after a week of deadly bombings and sectarian attacks.

Iraqi security forces, backed by Sunni tribesmen, clashed Sunday with a united of al-Qaida fighters near the Syrian border, killing at least 21 members of the terrorist organization, police said. The fighting, near the border town of Qaim in Anbar province began after midnight and lasted several hours, said Col. Tariq Youssef, a police official in the city, 200 miles west of Baghdad.

Iraq's government has endorsed plans to relocate thousands of Arabs who were moved to Kirkuk as part of Saddam Hussein's campaign to force ethnic Kurds out of the oil-rich city, in an effort to undo one of the former dictator's most enduring and hated policies.

[irishbitch1]

Watch his face and his posture,he is telling a bag full of lies! He doesn't even believe the *** coming out of his mouth! Time to end this farce of a war and hold the neocon war criminals bush and cheney accountable!

[mh4cbs1]

Anyone see any combat footage from this WAR on the evening news? Of course not, this is a sanitized war. Hidden from you by our Corporate Rulers, who would rather you know all there is to know about "celebrities". Or endless inane stories.

Americans see nothing, hear nothing, do nothing. America is not at War. Our troops are at War. America is at the Mall. America is watching relaity TV. America is overworked, underpaid, while the rich are spending their massive tax cuts and complaining about liberals who don't have the "stomach for war" as Cheney likes to sneer and snarl. But their kids can afford college tuition so they didn't have to volunteer for the Army. How convenient!

So here's a little visualization to help understand the scope of the Bush-Cheney Murder Machine. If the coffins of all our killed troops were lined up end to end, they would stretch down the highway for 4 long miles. Think about it next time you drive to work. Watch the clock as you are going 60 miles per hour, rushing past all those coffins, and think about all the fatherless kids, the grieving families surrounding each one. And tens of thousands more suffer permanently maimed, brain damaged, psychologically wounded.

Now think about the dead Iraqis - the end to end bodies (no coffins for most), would go on and on for a couple HUNDRED MILES. That is the legacy of our fascist WAR PRESIDENT - a murderous thug.

JAIL CHENEY and JAIL BUSH for Mass Manslaughter

[kansas1946]

Yes, I think we are getting the full picture in Iraq. We all saw what kind of security it took to get McCain through the market. I wonder if the average Iraqi citizen gets one hundred security guards and a couple of Apache helicopters to go with them when they buy mild. This guy, who I used to like, is a complete sellout and might as well go home and think about his missed opportunity in 2000. He could have run on an independent ticket and at the very least kept this maniac Bush out of the White House. The world loved him then, but that was then, and his time has passed.

[taddles-2009]

"Things are better and there are encouraging signs. I've been here ... many times over the years. Never have I been able to drive from the airport, never have I been able go out into the city as I was today."

He said while wearing body armor, surrounded by a company of marines with 3 attack helicopters overhead.

[homespunlady]

After reading the article about the big pharma ripoff and how grateful 1 US Pol was to be "cured" of his "rare cancer" I WONDER WHICH DISEASE OR PLANE CRASH McCAIN WAS WORRIED ABOUT.
He tried to cooperate - too bad the people don't believe him.

[agnim]

McPain is obviously a senile old man who can't shut up.

To be so anxious to shill for an 'enemy' who shamelessly dishonorably sinks McCain in the past presidential race is a sure mark of senility on his part.

Someone needs to remind the senile old man that Iraq is more than Baghdad.

[shingles1]

The fact that MccCain's little shopping excursion was made possible thanks to "100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead" and a bulletproof vest just goes to show that he's full of guano.

[starleo146]

What has happened to FLIP-FLOP McCain does he really think his propaganda on this war will help his election . I cannot believe him, How by repeating all the Bush mistakes and standing by them is what he needs to do to get elected? Mr. McCain you need to go back to the senate and forget your run for the presidency IT IS OVER. Even if some progress is made in IRAQ which I do not believe for one second it is it will not ever be over in Iraq the governments in the middle east love turmoil and just constantly keep some uprising going it is all about greed and Power.

[realpatriot1]

misha131,

Great post! That's the point, it's too early to tell
and the violence has just moved.

The straight talk express was against the surge before he was for it. It's true if you go to market accompanied by 100 soldiers, 3 Blackhawks,and 2 Apache Gunships you can feel safe. But that doesn't help regular Iraqis.

[misha131]

Reallistically, the evidence I have seen is clearly mixed and seems by reasonable evaluation to support no reasonable conclusions at this time.

There is little substantial proof that anything as changed other than the areas being protected and the areas not being unprotected therefore open to use by the insurgents. Attacks still occur in unprotected areas and from unprotected areas into protected areas.

Question has the Straight Talk Express bus been retrofit with rose colored windows?