On Apr 4, 10:21 am, "David Eduardo" wrote:
On Apr 4, 9:53 am, "mozark" wrote:





Whom is John McCain trying to fool?
By David Walsh
4 April 2007
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The stroll through a Baghdad market conducted by John McCain, the
Arizona senator and 2008 presidential hopeful, along with a number of
other Republicans, was a stage-managed farce that will convince no
one. McCain, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Reps. Rick
Renzi of Arizona and Mike Pence of Indiana walked through the Shorja
market Sunday and afterward praised the "progress" being made by the
US military in Iraq.

At a news conference, where he was questioned by skeptical
journalists, McCain claimed that "Things are better, and there are
encouraging signs."

Surreally, Rep. Pence went so far as to comment, "I candidly was not
prepared to find a marketplace where thousands and thousands of Iraqis
were moving about in regular everyday life like a normal outdoor
market in Indiana in the summertime."

Sen. Graham indicated that for him the Shorja visit was just another
tourist adventu "We went to the market and were warmly welcomed. I
bought five rugs for five bucks."

This farce has an element of derangement about it.

These are the conditions under which McCain and company took their
little jaunt April 1: US soldiers entered the area before the American
politicians, searched for explosives, sent informants among the people
there, set up a perimeter and "secured" the neighborhood.
Sharpshooters were deployed on rooftops.

The Republican delegation flew from the heavily-fortified Green Zone
to a forward operating base in Baghdad, and then traveled by Humvee to
the market. Once there, the politicians were accompanied by a "small
army," in the words of a Newsweek reporter, perhaps as many as 100
soldiers, while three Black Hawk helicopters and two Apache gunships
patrolled the skies above.

Questioned after the stunt, local merchants ridiculed the visit. The
Associated Press quoted Jaafar Moussa Thamir, a 42-year-old who sells
electrical appliances. "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."

Thamir said "about 150 US soldiers and 20 Humvees" accompanied the
delegation. "I didn't care about him, I even turned my eyes away. What
were they trying to tell us? They are just pretenders."

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

Merchants whose comments were cited by the New York Times were
"incredulous" that McCain drew the conclusion from his pathetic walk
that the new security plan for Baghdad was working. Ali Jassim Faiyad,
the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the Shorja market,
commented to the newspaper's reporter: "What are they talking about?
The security procedures were abnormal!" He went on, "They paralyzed
the market when they came. This was only for the media. This will not
change anything."

Abu Samer, a kitchenware and clothing wholesaler, told the Times: "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."

A day after McCain's visit, sniper fire rang out in the market, where
71 people were killed by a car bomb in February.

The death toll continues to mount in Iraq, contradicting the lies of
the US government and military. A new Iraqi government tally indicated
that violent deaths of Iraqi civilians nationwide had increased to
1,861 in March, up from 1,645 in February. The new security sweep
began February 13. In total, 2,078 Iraqi civilians, policemen and
soldiers were killed in March, 272 more than in February. Sixty-seven
Iraqis officially were recorded as dying each day last month, up from
64 a day the month before.

An increase in violence and death distributed throughout various
provincial cities and towns is the inevitable result of the higher
security presence in the capital of Baghdad. The most deadly attack of
the four-year war took place in Tal Afar last week, a double truck
bombing which killed 152. Overall, the government claims that more
than 600 Iraqis died over the course of the last seven days. Six US
soldiers were killed over the weekend, and a seventh died from
"noncombat causes."

Some other recent incidents: only hours before McCain's news
conference, two senior Sunni politicians narrowly escaped
assassination in Baghdad's central Yarmuk district. Two unexploded
suicide vests were discovered in the Green Zone. Last week a rocket
attack killed two Americans in the enclave.

On Sunday, a British soldier was killed in Basra. Over the weekend,
some 20 Iraqis were found dead, executed, mostly in Baghdad. A suicide
truck bomber attacked an Iraqi army building in Mosul, killing two and
injuring more than a dozen soldiers. Another bombing took place in
Kirkuk Monday, which killed 15.

When pressed at his news conference, McCain, known for his short
temper, abandoned his friendly tone and spoke like the foreign
colonial conqueror that he aspires to be: "I study warfare. I am a
student of history. If you control the capital city of a nation, you
have a significant advantage." He blamed the media for not giving the
American people "the full picture."

McCain also made the claim during his press conference that the Iraqis
had demonstrated political progress by committing themselves to
revising the measures that prevent former members of Saddam Hussein's
Baath Party from serving in the government. A day later, Grand
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the chief Shiite cleric in Iran, rejected
the plan.

A Sistani aide said Monday that there was a "general feeling of
rejection" over the proposal. The Times commented: "Ayatollah Sistani,
who lives in the holy city of Najaf, generally does not issue
proclamations himself, preferring to make his edicts known through his
aides or other Iraqi officials. His word is considered sacrosanct not
only among the Shiites in Iraq but also among those throughout the
world, so his rejection of the draft law means it has virtually no
chance of passage." So much for that.

McCain's media circus in the market and the absurd claims made at his
press conference provide further proof of the filthy character of the
US occupation. To the extent the Republican presidential hopeful and
the others believe their own fantasies, it reveals the depth of
disorientation of the American ruling elite.

You really are a ****ing moron. Idiot.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

El Fake-O-Eduardo,

Nothing Says Supid Like reposting and Off-Topic Post from
another NewsGroup alt.sports.basketball.nba.la-lakers
where it to was Off-Topic to a NewsGroup rec.radio.shortwave
where it too is Off-Topic.

supid is as supid does -and- you 'is' and 'does' ~ RHF