BAGHDAD, March 16, 2008
McCain Makes Unannounced Trip To Iraq
With 13 U.S. Troops Killed This Week, GOP Candidate Who Supports Bush's War Makes "Fact-Finding" Visit
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Sen. John McCain at Baghdad's International Airport, during his stopover to visit the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, Sunday, March 16, 2008. McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee who has linked his political future to American success in Iraq, made the unannounced trip to meet with Iraqi and U.S. diplomatic and military officials. (AP/Master Sgt. A. Dunaway, USAF)
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Play CBS Video Video Iraq: 5 Years Later Five years after the U.S. invaded Iraq, the war continues to bring death and destruction. Instability, high unemployment and scarce resources cast a shadow on the quality of life. Lara Logan reports.
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Photo Essay Week In Iraq Photos A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.
The trip by McCain, who has linked his political future to U.S. military success in the nearly five-year-old war, coincided with the 20th anniversary of a horrific chemical weapons attack in northern Iraq.
McCain met with Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh and planned to meet with Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, according to the U.S. Embassy. Further details of McCain's visit, which had been anticipated, were not being released for security reasons, the embassy said.
Before leaving the United States, McCain, one of the foremost proponents of the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion, said the trip to the Middle East and Europe was for fact-finding purposes, not a campaign photo opportunity.
But he expressed public worries that militants in Iraq might try to influence the November general election.
"Yes, I worry about it," he said, responding to a question during a campaign appearance in Pennsylvania. "And I know they pay attention, because of the intercepts we have of their communications."
McCain, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was accompanied by Sens. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., two top supporters of his presidential ambitions.
The weeklong trip will take McCain to Israel, Britain and France, and include his first meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He also is expected to meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other Israeli officials.
His focus in Iraq was thought to be the drop in sectarian violence and U.S. and civilian casualties since last summer. Exactly what was discussed, however, remained unclear since numerous telephone calls to aides traveling with McCain went unanswered.
Elsewhere, Kurds in northern Iraq commemorated the anniversary of the chemical weapons attack in Halabja, near the Iranian border, with solemn observances. The streets were empty and heavily patrolled by Iraqi security forces.
Saddam Hussein ordered the 1988 attack as part of a scorched-earth campaign to crush a Kurdish rebellion in the north, which was seen as aiding Iran near the end of its war with Iraq. Saddam was executed for other crimes against humanity before he could face trial for the attacks.
McCain's trip to Iraq is his eighth. Last November, he met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.
On a visit last April, the Arizona senator criticized news reports he said focused unfairly on violence, and said Americans were not getting a "full picture" of progress in the security crackdown in the capital.
McCain was combative toward reporters' questions in the heavily guarded Green Zone, and responded testily to a question about his comment that it was safe to walk some Baghdad streets. He later acknowledged traveling with armed U.S. military escorts.
Violence has dropped throughout the capital since, with an influx of some 30,000 additional U.S. soldiers sent to Iraq last year. The U.S. military has said attacks have fallen by about 60 percent since last February.
Still, violence continues in some parts of the country, according to reports from police officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media.
On Sunday, a parked car bomb exploded in western Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood, killing one person and wounding two others. Two civilians and nine others were wounded in Mosul when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest, police said. A roadside bomb killed another person in the northwestern city.
Just outside Baqouba, the capital of restive Diyala province, three people were killed in clashes between police and a faction of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, police said. In the city itself, gunmen killed a city hall employee, police said.
Police also found the bullet-riddled bodies of at least 16 people in Baghdad, Muqdadiyah, Mosul and the southern cities of Basra and Kut, where Shiite militia violence has been on the rise.
In Washington, two of McCain's colleagues who support Democrats for president, said senators - including candidate McCain - have the right to visit various parts of the world.
But, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif: "I think it would have probably have been better if he took members who were not so closely identified with his campaign. But this is indicated to be a congressional visit.
"Obviously the world's going to watch it, and we'll know whether it's exploited for other reasons. I don't believe it will be, but we'll see," Feinstein, who supports New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, said on CNN's "Late Edition." She appeared with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who supports Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
With Troop Buildup In Baghdad, Violence Spreads Throughout Rest of Country
The influx of thousands of U.S. forces has driven down insurgent attacks in Baghdad, but violence elsewhere in Iraq raises questions about whether killings will continue to drop as
American forces begin to leave, the United Nations said Saturday.
Violent attacks have grown more frequent in recent weeks.
Thirteen U.S. soldiers have been killed in a week, including a soldier who was killed Saturday when he was shot during combat operations in Baghdad. Five others died in a single suicide attack in central Baghdad last week. In a separate attack a week ago, two massive bombs hit Baghdad's Karradah neighborhood, killing 68 people.
With Saturday's death, at least 3,988 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The report from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq describes how, as security improved in Baghdad, violent attacks spread last year to other parts of the country, including Diyala Province and Mosul, al-Qaida's last urban stronghold.
"The government of Iraq continued to face enormous challenges in its efforts to bring sectarian violence and other criminal activity under control against a backdrop of political instability," the report, which examined the last six months of 2007, said.
Thousands of additional U.S. forces went to Iraq starting last year as part of a strategy by Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, to secure the capital and give Iraq's politicians breathing room to cut deals that would bring minority Sunni Arabs into the government and weaken the insurgency.
While the U.S. military has said a 60 percent reduction in attacks followed the influx of more than 20,000 additional troops, known as the surge, the extra security has not succeeded in accomplishing the political benchmarks that was the goal.
Military officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The report, the 12th issued from the U.N. in Iraq, comes in the wake of the first sizable reduction in troops since a security plan began last year.
Three months ago, U.S. military officials sent home one brigade numbering about 5,000 troops. Further reductions, however, are being delayed for three months so military commanders in Iraq can assess progress.
The U.N. report cautioned against hasty conclusions because "the extent to which the decrease in violence was sustainable remained unclear."
Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. chief in Iraq, said so-called Awakening Councils, groups composed of former Sunni fighters who have accepted U.S. funding to switch allegiances and fight al Qaeda in Iraq, have played an important role in stopping violence.
The report also raised questions about human rights violations at detainment facilities in Kurdistan, and the conduct of private security firms such as Blackwater Worldwide, which remains at the center of a federal probe following the deaths 17 Iraqi civilians last year.
In Other Developments:
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Add a Comment See all 274 Comments
- Obama should make it to Iraq, tell the GI''''s they may be back home with their families by mid next year or earlier... Expect a good response to the announcement... because they are needed on American Soil.
Posted by grazinggoat at 06:56 PM : Mar 17, 2008
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REALLY!!! why the liberal/terrorist masses are running out recruitment offices to blow up or soldier to spit at?? - Reply to this comment
- the last miltiary trip the DNC made was to protest it..
- Reply to this comment
- He probably had to hurry over there and make sure Cheney didn''t "accidentaly" shoot some diplomat in the face. Dumb a** Cheney was speaking today about how wonderful it is in Iraq and that our "mission is accomplished." I knew the guy was a little loose, but I didn''t realize that he is certifiably insane.
- Reply to this comment
- Obama should make it to Iraq, tell the GI''s they may be back home with their families by mid next year or earlier... Expect a good response to the announcement... because they are needed on American Soil.
- Reply to this comment
- "The evidence we have today indicated we have been deceived and betrayed for a number of years by a highly respected and trusted individual," said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the NRCC chairman.
-All I can tell Iraqis is watch out! this Repukon is in a revenge mode. His party financial CFO has gone with the money... Lock up your doors and hide your Shekels... More, you have a double trouble guests: McCane and DicckCheney two Thieves in Chief. - Reply to this comment
- Hey, did you hear Cheney is in Irag checking up on his investments???
Posted by truth-hurts at 03:16 PM : Mar 17, 2008
Of course, when you have no bid contracts that get paid regardless of whether your projects are complete failures, there''''s really not much to check up on, just gotta make sure none of the crooks who work for you are looting the company, selling materials to Al Quaeda or something and not giving you a cut. - Reply to this comment
- Hey, did you hear Cheney is in Irag checking up on his investments???
Posted by truth-hurts at 03:16 PM : Mar 17, 2008
Of course, when you have no bid contracts that get paid regardless of whether your projects are complete failures, there''''s really not much to check up on, just gotta make sure none of the crooks who work for you are looting the company, selling materials to Al Quaeda or something and not giving you a cut. - Reply to this comment
- **** OBAMA FLIP FLOPS ON RACIST REMARKS ****
MARCH 14, 2008: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday denounced inflammatory remarks from his pastor
MARCH 17, 2008: Speaking with reporters, Obama said the media is portraying Wright inaccurately.
"I think the caricature that is being painted of him is not accurate, and so part of what I will do tomorrow is to talk about how these issues are perceived from within the black church community for example which I think skews this very differently." - Reply to this comment
- Part 1
On April 1, 2007, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) strolled through the open-air Shorja market in Baghdad in an effort to prove that Americans are %u201Cnot getting the full picture%u201D of what%u2019s going on in Iraq. In a press conference after his Baghdad tour, McCain told a reporter that his visit to the market was proof that people could %u201Cwalk freely%u201D in parts of Baghdad.
What McCain failed to mention was that he was accompanied by %u201C100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead.%u201D He also appeared to be wearing a bulletproof vest during his visit.
Since that trip, McCain has claimed that the situation in Iraq has improved even more. A few months ago, McCain claimed that %u201Cwe%u2019ve succeeded militarily%u201D in Iraq. Things, of course, are going so well, that he wants to keep U.S. troops there for at least 100 years.
But when you show up, the local Iraqis, while it is clear security is better on the street %u2014 it is clear there are more markets open, just the traffic jams alone tell you that things are better on the streets of Baghdad %u2014 it%u2019s also a very sensitive potential neighborhoods.
That one marketplace, as a matter of fact, you do see Iraqi police, you do see the Iraqi army, but in truth, that area is controlled by the radical cleric Moqtada al Sadr%u2019s Mahdi army. - Reply to this comment
- Part 2.
McCain is now back in Iraq for a %u201Csurprise visit with Iraqi and American diplomatic and military leaders.%u201D He is joined by fellow Iraq war defenders Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). But it%u2019s unlikely they will be visiting the Shorja market again. Today, CNN reported that they tried to visit the Shorja market, but it was too unsafe and they were unable to go:
We got close to that marketplace today, Jim, but our own security advisers here in Iraq did not want us to go there. They didn%u2019t believe it was safe for an American to be in that area. We were in a thriving marketplace nearby. - Reply to this comment
- Glad to see the far left is still holding their own on bashing true heros. Prepare yourselves, far left, for another 8 years of Republican control.
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Posted by speakinup at 07:51 AM : Mar 17, 2008
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Now this is strange because just yesterday YOU were on here bashing a REAL War Hero and Vet. A guy who had won the Silver Star amoung other things. Why were you bashing him? Well because he didn''t agree with you and your "Party". I guess to you people Vets like MCVet and myself don''t count... we don''t count unless we agree with that Coward Bush? You know the Clown in the White House today.. the one who WOULDN''T go with us but got Pappy to get him into the guard? McCain is a former Pilot who got himself shot down. He supports a LIAR who sent our young men off to die based on LIES. His status as a Veteran is beside the point. - Reply to this comment
- Wasn''t it Rush Limbaugh, the big fat idiot, who said downtown Detroit was safer than Downtown Baghdad about four years ago?
Then why does McCain have to wear a bulletproof vest and be escorted by helicopter gunships and a platoon of heavily armed troops? Why are McCain, Bush and Cheney''s visits "unannounced" when everything in Iraq are going so hunky dorrey?
Posted by waynabq at 10:55 AM
How many times has Rush Limbaugh visited Iraq?
Posted by rushlimpdrug at 11:07 AM : Mar 17, 2008"
LOl, May be Rush might have missed his OxyContin''s dose that day or missed chewing Viagra or both. - Reply to this comment
- I can''t believe we''re paying for this stupid trip and all the security to guard McClueless with our tax dollars so that he can promote the effects of the surge. If we''re paying for the trip, can we make him go visit the carpet market he visited last time that was supposedly a ''success'' story? I''m sure the people of Iraq would like to share with him their take on the state of security in that region.
- Reply to this comment
Wasn''''t it Rush Limbaugh, the big fat idiot, who said downtown Detroit was safer than Downtown Baghdad about four years ago?
Then why does McCain have to wear a bulletproof vest and be escorted by helicopter gunships and a platoon of heavily armed troops? Why are McCain, Bush and Cheney''''s visits "unannounced" when everything in Iraq are going so hunky dorrey?
Posted by waynabq at 10:55 AM
How many times has Rush Limbaugh visited Iraq?- Reply to this comment
- Wasn''t it Rush Limbaugh, the big fat idiot, who said downtown Detroit was safer than Downtown Baghdad about four years ago?
Then why does McCain have to wear a bulletproof vest and be escorted by helicopter gunships and a platoon of heavily armed troops? Why are McCain, Bush and Cheney''s visits "unannounced" when everything in Iraq are going so hunky dorrey? - Reply to this comment
- Quick! Someone give the man a gun! Ha!Ha!Ha!
- Reply to this comment
- Bush supporters sure have short memories, these very same fools, idiots, morons(easeup, jdwind, etc.) were all gung-ho about invading Iraq five years ago.
Invading would make oil cheaper and it would pay for the war, 4000 dead and 26,000 wounded GI''s, several 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians later and a trillion dollars wasted. Oil and gasoline are at record highs.
Bush supporters/monkey worshippers what happened to "Mission Accomplished" and "Al Quaeda is in it''s death throes"? That was several years ago when these words were uttered by the monkey and his handler.
To call Bush supporters fools, would be giving fools a bad name. - Reply to this comment
This is great P.R. for tourism to pick up in this area.
Check with your travel agent.
They will welcome Americans with open arms.
Really.- Reply to this comment
NeoCon hero worship is like sharing the dog bowl with a rabid wolf...- Reply to this comment
- If only the dems would let us drill for our own oil we wouldnt be having this argument.
Posted by getrealnow2
Drilling more oil will not reduce our dependence on it. Our dependence is the reason we''re having this argument. - Reply to this comment
The road ahead in Afghanistan, and the crucial decision Obama faces.
