Boys look at a pool of bloodied water at the scene of Thursday's bomb attack, in Baghdad, March 30, 2007. (Kareem Raheem/Reuters)
Good ole John McCain went shopping today with his buddy Lindsay Graham… and while we know that Lindsay scored 5 … count 'em 5 … rugs in the …. marketplace for only $5, John it seems just felt like selling us more of his happy talk. In his "testy" press conference following their shopping trip, McCain told us all about how much better Iraq is doing under the surge.
Raed Jarrar has a few things to say about McCain's expedition:
Dear John
I read about your latest trip to Baghdad in articles like "McCain, in Baghdad, says city is safer than before," " McCain lauds security during Baghdad visit," and "McCain Sees Improvement in Iraq." I'm sure you wanted to stage a "Shopping in Baghdad" spree to show us how great and safe baghdad is, and to encourage more Americans to go do their Shopping in downtown Baghdad, but I'm not sure your plan has worked.
It doesn't seem like good security to me when one shop-owner in Shorja, which was closed to traffic after the February bombings, said there had been a heavy security presence, with many U.S. soldiers on the ground and U.S. helicopters overhead. I don't think many Iraqis can afford to hire some hundreds of bodyguards and a few helicopters to protect them while they are shopping. Do you realize how would it be for a regular Iraqi to go shopping without the US army's protection, do you realize how your shopping spree would have looked like if you went to a real market with cars driving around?
(snip)
As Raed goes on to note, it's a little hard to buy the fun shopping tale when faced with reality. IN fact, McCain's spree was followed within hours with the news of the Six U.S. soldiers killed by roadside bombs in Iraq. And we read, from Al Aswat, that at Touz Khormato two people were killed and four others were wounded in an explosive device blast that ripped through a market in this district northeast of Baghdad at about the same time.
Other local sources are reporting that Falluja may slip out of U.S. control:, Violence overwhelms Mosul: and that the City of Hilla is under curfew as violence spreads beyond Baghdad.
And as a Newsweek blog reported in A Sunday Stroll in Iraq's Capital:
In any case, it didn't take the insurgents long to send their reply. Less then 30 minutes after McCain wrapped up, a barrage of half a dozen mortars peppered the boundaries of the Green Zone, where the senators held their press conference.
Add in the fact that McCain has the gall to make his claims of progress in the same week in which we learned that violence in Iraq is up by 15%, that Iraqi casualities topped 2,000 for the month of March and US casualities were 80 (double that of Iraqi forces) and I think Raed puts it best:
How does it feel when you can't stop lying? … Does this look like an improvement to you? I don't know whether you don't know the facts, or whether you know and just prefer to continue telling lies to the public.
Dear John, leave us alone. Go shop elsewhere and let Iraqis and Americans find a better option than continuing this expensive and pointless war.
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First?
it’s all yours Steve!
Graham went shopping while McLame (ideas, not his physical disabilities) was only selling. More of the standard barnyard odure. Aka, b*ll sh*t!
McCain’s “stroll” today through a Baghdad market was guarded by 100 American soldiers, three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
Don’t forget the bullet-proof vest. Do they sell those at the market now?
are we daring them to try to shoot our planes down – so bush and his friends have a “reason” to bomb them to hell?
If McCain really believes what he says, and I am suspicious that Bush, Cheney, Rove and most other Republicans seriously think what they think is true, then we are a country ruled by lunatics and maniacs. And if this is the case, and I have no reason to doubt that it is, then the real madness has already begun. In the Middle East.
I thought it was unfair that the right wing said John was nuts during the run-up to 2000. It is sad but they were right. Real progress being made. March was the worst month for Iraqi deaths since December and eight troops (6 US KIA, 1 UK KIA and 1 US non-combat but just as dead) killed on Monday while John and Lindsay went shopping.
The best one was Andrea Mitchell saying some Republicans voted for the surge, knowing it was hopeless, in-order to run out the political clock until September. If the Pope is right and the fires of Hell are real then these people will burn for eternity.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 8
OKKiddo: Did you see the link on Carlyle I left in last thread?
Frank Probst @ 5
5 for $5.
It seems to me McCain may already be afflicted with Alzheimers. I’d say suffering, but that implies they don’t deserve it and he’s one who does.
Selise … I wondered about that too … they made a point of “not” flying over Iran when they had the naval war games but …
selise @ 6
Duh. Any excuse is good enuf.
Frank Probst @
5
Buy 5 rugs and receive a FREE bullet-proof vest. Sale ends Monday ; )
An attack on Iran is very much in play.
epu-d from last thread: we need to revive the ‘credibility gap’ phraseology wrt both McCain & w.
Siun @ 13
well, at least it sounds like the “bait” wasn’t taken.
sigh. i fear we are governed by idiots with a deficiency of empathy.
Along with everything else, I was stunned that these creeps bragged about getting such a bargain at a market that has been devastated over and over … in some of the reports, they mentioned that shopkeepers did not accept payment for “the souvenirs” …
Baghdadi’s are starving and merchants are devastated and yet John and Lindsay and buds are haggling.
dakine01 @ 10
No. But I’ll go back and take a look. Thanks.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 14
The Nimitz carrier battle group will leave San Diego Monday for the Gulf. In about two weeks there will be three Carrier battle groups in the Gulf. The Eisenhower is supposed to be replaced by the Nimitz, want to bet that their tour is extended?
Kudos to NBC for not playing along with this farce. But where were the video cameras? McCain rarely does anything that’s not on camera. Why don’t we have video of him haggling with vendors at the market? Or would all those helicoptors and gunships have been distracting? Seriously, we the media even allowed in? I thought the whole point of an open-air market is that just about anyone can go.
Siun @ 12
They always flew over Iraq airspace to locate the radar stations.
Makes me nervous w President Bombs aLot still around
Frank … there were no pics last I checked of the whole market visit … but we do have some mighty weird pics of McCain in the Green Zone – the guy does not look healthy!
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/sm/1479/p:1
click through those to get to today’s McCain pics
Cozumel @ 14
Maybe so but what matters is how it played in the media. Reality… not so much.
Steve @ 21
I’m still trying to figure out how we’re going to justify it. The 15 Brits aren’t enough to justify a strike, particularly since no one can agree if they were in Iranian waters to begin with. I think the people in charge in Iran know what the score is, and they’re not going to take any “bait”. Normally, I’d expect Bush to just make something up, but the entire world is watching, and nobody believes a word he says. Any guesses? How are we going to get drawn into this? Is there some way they can connect Iran to 9/11?
eCAHNomics @
16
I think it is more of a credibility chasm than gap given the size of their whoppers.
The whole thing just seemed surreal. He’s trying to tell reporters in Baghdad how safe the city is. They seemed be saying, “Dude, we’re HERE IN BAGHDAD. The fact that we’re in the room with you should’ve clued you in. Are you really trying to sell this shit to us?”
dakine01 @ 26
No objection from me. Only trying to tie viscerally into Nixon & VN. Something to be said for that.
Frank Probst @ 27
“Sh*t for sale. I’ve got sh*t for sale!”
“I’ve got nothing for sale. Absolutely nothing for sale!”
All right movie buffs, it’s an easy one.
Graham paid five bucks, but how much did we pay? 100 troops, several helicopters, and who knows what else?
eCAHNomics @ 28.
The Ron Ziegler school of press relations has a lot of graduates in Chimpy’s admin and the Republic party.
Frank – this was striking:
WITH GUNS, BUT NO GUTS
Gwynne Dyer
Fifth Column
“I don’t want to second-guess the British after the fact,” said US navy lieutenant-commander, Erik Horner, “but our rules of engagement allow a little more latitude. Our boarding team’s training is a little bit more towards self-preservation.” Does that mean that one of his American boarding teams would have opened fire if it had been on any one of the two inflatable boats that were surrounded by Iranian Revolutionary Guard fast patrol boats off the coast of Iraq? “Agreed. Yes.”
Just as well that it was a British boarding team then. The fifteen British sailors and marines who were captured and taken to Tehran for “questioning” are undoubtedly having an unpleasant time, but they are alive, and Britain is only involved in two wars, in Iraq and in Afghanistan. If it had been one of Horner’s boarding teams, they would all be dead, and the United States of America and Iran would now be at war.
Horner is the executive officer of the USS Underwood, the American frigate that works together with HMS Cornwall, the British ship that the captive boarding party came from. Interviewed after the incident by Terri Judd of The Independent, the only British print journalist on HMS Cornwall, he was obviously struggling to be polite about the gutless Brits, but he wasn’t having much success.
“The US Navy rules of engagement say we have not only a right to self-defence but also an obligation to self-defence,” Horner explained. “(The British) had every right in my mind and every justification to defend themselves rather than allow themselves to be taken. Our reaction was, Why didn’t your guys defend themselves?”
(snip)
With Guns, no Guts
This column has appeared in a wide range of foreign press – esp in the ME
Perhaps they’ll attack Iran just because they can. If you’ve got a president who claims that he and God have conversions, I don’t know that we’re talking stability. Or rationality. And almost all of the Republicans support this administration down the line on Iraq. And I’m not just talking about Republican politicians.
Siun @ 32
Kabuki here, only I don’t know the rules.
dakine01 @ 30
It’s good to be the king.
Siun- apologies for the OT, but I left kirk a note downstairs re: his search for the plan. Kirk?
MY GOD WHAT A HORRIBLE PICTURE!!
These warmongers and their pseudo-jingo, enablers need this type photo!!
Feel this… you war mongering asshole, emperor wanna-be!
$5 for five carpets? That’s not a good deal; that’s the shop owner, quivering in fear, wanting them out of his shop as soon as humanly possible. Bragging about those prices is obscene, because they’re not natural in any possible way. That’s not haggling — it’s just bizarre.
The visuals can’t work for them, because the bullet-proof vest is so prominent. And I wonder how those 100 Soldiers felt, enabling a photo op?
So deeply, deeply weird.
“Our boarding team’s training is a little bit more towards self-preservation.”
Ironic, seeing as he went on to say that his boarding team would have been slaughtered.
neon left you a message last thread at 136 i think about meeting with others in your area. nice bunch it seems.
nite all
good job siun
Frank Probst @ 35
I DID say it was easy.
Respectful Dissent – precisely!
On the bright side, I’m really glad the media aren’t telling us how great St John’s new clothes look.
Next, they need to ask our Attorney General if–given the severity of his recent memory lapses–he has sought the advice of a neurologist or had a brain MRI.
As a gay man, am I allowed this catty remark? Lindsay Graham crowing about getting 5 rugs for 5 dollars? Confirming all my gaydar…
Can’t those kids staring at the bloody water do something useful like weave a carpet for American consumers???????????????????????????
eCAHNomics @
16
Yup. Credibility Gap is now Credibility Canyon.
Veritas … I thought I would leave that to one of our experts … merci!
one report described Lindsay as “gushing” over his new rugs
Siun @ 32
Definitely kabuki. I’m also trying ot remember my basic UCMJ stuff i memorized 12 years ago. But i do remember that the shoot first is not ‘defence’. That’s offence of the worst sort. Shows the difference in the training in this long a time, and what they’re getting away with as well.
granted, i wasn’t in long enough to end up learning the rules of engagement myself. I still smell something foul in that man’s words though. I
really don’t like it.
Respectful Dissent @
38
Yupper.
Let’s see McCain try that without the helicopter gunships overhead. Heck, we’ll even spot him the hundred troops.
Siun– you are a treasure.
This is an unforgiveable and ongoing tragedy.
Veritas78 @ 45
I’m going to have to disagree here. Our people do like to crow about rug bargains, but 5 for $5 is embarassingly low. Every gay man I know would haggle the price UP, just so he wouldn’t have to say he got it for a buck.
(”And girl, you should have SEEN the hundred soldiers who were escorting me! I wanted to put those rugs to good use right then and there!”)
Respectful Dissent @ 38
Exactly right – barganing an equitable price gets hampered a bit when one party as a freakin’ army behind him.
Kathryn in MA @ 52
Let’s just hope those rugs weren’t from the Baghdad Museum
I am really disgusted by this shopping expedition. (duh!) Brought to mind some comment by Bush after 911 urging people to just keep calm and go shopping. Like, of course, this is the answer. In the Bushco McCain Graham Disneyland world. No wonder we are hated and reviled by most of the world.
herr lindsay graham today scored the deal of his lifetime in the Lodz Ghetto.
“5 dollars for 5 carpets. what a deal! See how happy everybody is!!!”
At the rate this Uncivil war is progressing, Mr. Bush’s exhausted army may be thrown out of Iraq before the Democrats withdraw them with honor. Pity Mr. Bush thinks that changing his mind, or reading, are such unmanly things to do, while the men he commands risk all for his pleasure.
Re the Prince turning down dinner with Prez… Someone wondered what it might mean. FYI here’s my reply:
Hi [],
Imagine that! Turning down dinner with a Strawman. And doing it noisily, too. Surely an attention-getter. I do not know what it means, but there are “givens” that cannot be ignored.
“…the petrogame of “I hold you by your heat/light/power arteries” is getting interestinger and interestinger. And wilder.”
And especially as more leaders spot the petro-game and also consider ramifications of Peak Oil and Peak-like Gas and Peak-like Coal. And Peak-like Weapons like rpg’s that penetrate 5 feet of reactive-armor-protected reinforced concrete; 600 mph torpedos; 2000-mile remote-controlled drones accurate to 10 feet; and oh-by-the -way would you define nuclear weapons as including dispersal of deadly-for-generations depleted U-2L8 dust?
The Saud clan’s roots are devoted to survival against surrounding enemies. Whether local or global, the perceived threats are studied carefully and responses are diligently honed as part of a plan for survival and expansion of their status as rulers; an outrageous artificial construct that auto-creates oppositions.
The USDollar hegemony of crude-oil sales is already visibly cracked and weakening to where is it becomes conceivable that it is unenforceable. Whither USDollar deposits? Whither our USDollar?
The doubling and tripling of crude prices has undermined a prime method that restricted who was entitled to play the petrogame. Now, many more outsiders have the ability to produce oil/gas from formerly cost-prohibitive sources. Nearly all the low cost low-hung fruit is gone.
The equisitely balanced leverage that governed the intentions of the oilfield owners and the crude oil developer/distributors is changing.
[We keep you on the throne and control distribution of your crude; you deposit $USD revenues in our banks.]Aggressive actions are the offspring as the balanced leverage is perceived to favor one side. The survival of the Saud clan status was based on joint partnership of oil exploitation. It still is, but the nature and magnitude of the oppositions threaten. What if their partner turns out to be a Paper Tiger?
Oops! Do you see where this silly, imaginitive blathering is going? How can anyone’s mad dream of World Domination go to conclusion… if, if, if …THEY… are still around? You know. THEY. The unmentionable who has been the takeover target for 200 years and consistently given indigestion to every colonial bite. Every time.
And THEY know full well THEY remain the final barrier to global control of the planet by a clique. What stupid, paranoid mong… er… ah…morons THEY must be. But first, the clique has to neutralize Iran. Hahaha. Only kidding.
That was a fun story I read in a comic blog. Sorry to digress
Valley Girl @ 54
It is pretty revolting that he’s buying souvenirs from a war zone
Hey Gang! a photo of McCain shopping just appeared on an Australian blog – I’ve added a note above (refresh) or click here:
Ah. McCain!
“Montel does your psychic guest have any clue about my future?”
“Well Lindsay as you know karma’s a bitch. Expect tornadoes and hurricanes. Lots and lots and lots and lots.”
I hope nobody tells Lindsay that the best rugs are made a few hundred miles to the east—in Iran.
US$5.00 for carpets, US$500,000 for security and transport. Mr. Graham should declare a customs value for his “bargain” of about $505,000, which will cost him, oh, about $50,000 in duty. Pretty much defines what this administration calls a “bargain”.
McCain was laughed off the set last week when he said you could walk the streets of Baghdad safely. He’s not so big on being laughed at by all of America, so he decided to “prove” his point. Now we’re all laughing hilariously.
Except that the situation in Iraq is so sad.
Veritas – I was reading last night that it runs at least $1,000 to buy a rug in Iran … of course, with regime change, maybe Lindsay can do something about that too!
Just LOVE comments about going shopping, gaydar on rugs, all tangentially connected material.
Murphyslaw @ 62
Bingo
1. On McCain: to me, he’s gone from someone I would strongly debate against…to someone I now just laugh at. I just wonder if he has ANY idea how foolish he comes off? Who knows.
2. the Brit crisis: I remain puzzled at what some at the WH would call the “tick-tock” of the capture. I’ve read ONE report that the Cornwall was some 5-6 miles away from the boarding party & boarded ship. Huh?
a) I think the 5-6 mile report must be an error? That’s a Looong distance for the “mother ship” to be from it’s boarding crew. Ships usually want to pull in to…oh, maybe 3-5 hundrd YARDS from the target ship.
b) did the capture happen before or after the target ship was boarded?
c) if before…why didn’t Cornwall detect approach of these gunboats and warn them off?
d) why didn’t the boarding party itself, while on the target ship, spot the approach of the gunboats? Wasn’t anyone on overwatch?
Perhaps good answers are out there, but the Brits are just, for the moment clamping down on such discussion. But it sure makes me scratch my head.
Ghostman
The world’s stupidest photo op.
My first thought on the rugs was “I hope he gets socked on customs duty’. The second was ‘The previous owner sold those in order to eat – or to get out of Iraq’.
McCain and Graham are clueless and likely to stay that way.
http://www.commondreams.org/ar…..03/31/207/
Ghostman – very interesting questions. There’s a lot to the Iranian situation that we’re not being told.
Cozumel @ 66
Artworks do not incur customs’s duties. On return from China in summer 01, got away with $5,000. While that is not $505,000, principal is the same & order of magnitude works out just right for Rs.
Of course, Lindsay’s a Republican, so he’s probably hawking his wares on eBay right now. “In near-mint condition: bloodstains will come out with a little soda water!!”
Siun @ 59
Great pic! He looks oh so relaxed on his shopping spree, too. And I notice in the blog comments that the term “Repug” is in use even in Oz!
Cassie @ 69
Umm, close. But McCain has already set his own standard for those–cutting his birthday cake with the Preznident while NOLA was getting the crap kicked out of it by Katrina….
Angie – amazing piece in that link. Thank you!
Veritas78 @ 44
For $1 a carpet, they’ve got to be monstrously tacky though …
And you know, I never want to see them. Because if we ever see them, it’s because he’s somehow brought them up in the media again and no matter whether they’re machine-made trash or hand-woven treasures, the whole thing is gag-inducing.
(BTW, how gratifying to spawn, like, 4 other comments in this thread? For an occasional poster, that’s quite a response … especially from the likes of Siun, Phoenix Woman, et al … )
Siun, thanks for the updated link to StMcCain that you added to your post.
text: ~~The story points out that accompanying McCain were: “100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead.” And that’s either a fishing vest or body armour he’s wearing.
Nonetheless, McCain told reporters: “that his visit to the market today was proof that you could indeed ‘walk freely’ in some areas of Baghdad.” ~~~
McCain is going to need a magic carpet of he becomes prez. I really believe this man has lost it. He went over the top awhile ago. McCain, Rudy, Newtie and Mutt Romney. The best the gop can come up with? Cream of the crop?
Oklahoma kiddo @ 79
don’t forget the law and order dude.
VG- it’s body armour … I suspect of better quality than the troops around him.
Hmmm.
Hi firepups? -
Three questions:
1) What are you hearing about (if anything) about groups planning/obtaining permits for DC mass gatherings for Iran peace?
2) Could we on the Lake help spark the organizing? Should we?
3) Might direct personal outreach (via email) to senior Pentagon planners/officers help carry mass citizen support for peace with Iran? Could/should the Lake help to share this tool for intervention with the progressive blogosphere?
[oh - I’ll share my answer to # 1. I’m not hearing of anything substantial, and the logistics folks I know don’t aren’t hearing of any real efforts. That may well mean no one has stepped forward…
with all the potential energy, a small group could catalyze a massive planning cascade….
hence the questions for the Lake]
______________________
and Valley Girl – thanks for your answer on the prior thread!
perfect angie
Siun – I never have anything to add but want you to know I read and appreciate these posts
but wait! yes you are correct about his body armor, didn’t Condi actually get busted for that very thing last year and then tried a “this old thing ? I just put on what they gave me”
Siun @ 81
Siun- I had no doubt that was the case- I was just quoting the article you linked.
Yes, of course it is of better quality than what the troops have. Because McCain is special.
Like, so, it’s so easy for someone, like ordinary Iraqis to go shopping. All you need is for this is:
100 American soldiers,
three Blackhawk helicopters,
two Apache gunships overhead,
better body armour than US troops have,
and a partridge in a pear tree/ or a life time ticket to Disneyland.
Siun @ 64
Ah, well, depends on the type of rug, its size, its materials, workmanship, etc.
Here’s a bit of trivia: the enforcement of the No-Fly Zones during the 90s spawned an unlikely class of consumers for fine hand-woven Middle Eastern rugs: US military personnel, specifically USAF pilots and other officers. Repeated rotations to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey meant some folks could build a high degree of knowledge of what makes a fine quality rug from the dealers outside the gate … and despite the official prohibitions on the importation of Iranian/Persian carpets, the rugs were often characterized as of “Eastern Turkish” origin when it came time to mail or bring them home. ‘Cause they came from Iran over the mountains on mules and in trucks.
Graham is? was? a reserve AF JAG, so I wonder if he ever deployed to Northern Watch … and I wonder if anyone would balk now at the grey-market trade that obviously brought some money into Iran!
lolo @ 80
I know I left out a few. And of course Tommy Thompson, another Republican giant. ;0)
I am beginning to think that Bush & CO. are actually letting things in Iraq get more and more out of control.
In recent weeks conditions are clearly deteriorating. I wonder if the US military has been ordered to stand down so that the chaos makes it look like US presence is really a necessity.
http://www.informationclearing…..e17449.htm
Off topic, but I just saw this picture of “Jesus and his peeps“, and wanted to share it here because I’d seen a number of Peep-centric posts on this blog recently.
chuteh says
Here’s an interesting commentary…
Siun @ 32
Dyer’s been a defense correspondent for a number of years. His War: A Commentary is a must-see for anyone who’s interested in what military power means in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/f…..A963948260
It gets better gang! WaPo here and I’ve added more above in the post – refresh to see it:
Pence said he was deeply moved by his ability to “mix and mingle unfettered among ordinary Iraqis” and to have tea and haggle over the price of a rug. The Shorja market, he said, was “like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summer time.”
Wapo
I said it a couple of threads ago (via link to the shopping spree story) and I’ll say it again: McCain is living in a dream world.
Siun @
91
Oh god! It’s just like a county fair. Minor note to all- F5 reload not refresh to see Siun’s addition.
I wonder if the Iranians knew the sailors and marines were British rather than American? Sounds like this could have been the incident bush seems to be looking for, if it had been Americans and they decided to start shooting.
Frank Probst @
25
Bush has gone so far over the edge,he has already justified it. He is the only President who has the “moral character” to take on Iran. For the American People, “I am the decider” is enough explanation. There will be no pseudo-logic as for the Iraq war. Bush has gone way beyond that.
The issue will be the military. Will they go along? The Air-force will, and they hope it will get to nukes. It’s the senior Naval Officers that have their balls in a vice. Are they willing to violate civilian control and say no. It would amount to a passive coup to save the country but a very bad thing to do for our form of government.
Cassie @
68
Hi Cassie! How right you are.
Terrifying and essential piece, nice find, Siun!
monty05 @ 87
To whom? The five remaining members of shrub’s pro-war base? Shrub’s just going to keep on chanting his mantra that the surge is working (on whatever single block of Baghdad our entire troop complement is concentrated on in any given week) and hope against hope that somebody will actually believe him. He’s on a mission from his god, and his god is testing him…
McCain’s going to keep on enabling him ’cause he doesn’t have a choice, and because his play here is far more cynical… McCain’s candidacy is simply a long-odds bet on a turnaround. If (as is likely and he knows it) it doesn’t happen, he blames it all on shrub and on the Dems for not committing enough troops and keeps his senate seat. Nothing gained, nothing lost. If, in the unlikely event, things do get better, he gets a good shot at the presidency. He has nothing to lose.
me @ 96..I wonder what the trip-wire was that sent me into the black hole of “moderation”?
This staged bit of propaganda designed to enhance the prospects of a Republican Presidential candidate cost the American taxpayer how much — troops, helicopters, gunships, diplomatic personnel, air transport, etc?
What member of the crack Beltway press corps will be the first to calculate and report it?
Uzi Arad, former director of intelligence at Israel’s spy agency, Mossad, has made a lifetime’s study of revolutionary Iran. If international sanctions and diplomatic arm-twisting fail to halt its suspect nuclear activities, he is clear what the west must do: bomb Tehran.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl…..72,00.html
OT – seems that there’s another Thompson in the Repug prez race.
Frank Probst @
25
The US is going to have to come up with something more substantial. The Iranians are going to keep their radar locked up until the real thing starts, and they will have plenty of notice because the Russians are sure to tell them. I don’t think Bush can bluff the chess players into making a false move. They will run out the clock. That’s his problem. He needs a casus belli, and the damned Persians aren’t about to give him one. Of course, there’s always Poland, to go a long way back for historical precedent.
Respectful Dissent – neat info on the rugs and grey market. I know there are dealers in the Green Zone in the new improved trailer park there but didn’t know that.
So, can we start calling Sen. Graham’s very successful shopping trip in Baghdad (in which he got five rugs for US$5) CarpetGate?
Old Blackwater, keep on rollin
Old Euphrates moon, won’t you keep on shinin’ on me
Old Blackwater, keep on rollin
Old Euphrates moon, won’t you keep on shinin’ on me
Old Blackwater, keep on rollin
c’mon Tigris moon, won’t you keep on shinin’ on me
Yeah, keep on shinin’ your light
Gonna make everything, pretty mama
Gonna make everything all right
And I ain’t got no worries
cause I ain’t in no hurry at all
/rant
Another telling quote, from the WaPo story on McCain’s “shopping trip”…
***
…Amir Raheem, 32 , a floor carpeting merchant at the Shorja market, disagreed with the upbeat assessment of the congressional visitors. “Just yesterday, an Iraqi soldier was shot in his shoulder by a sniper, and the day before, two civilians were shot by a sniper as well,” he said.
He said Sunni insurgents routinely clashed with Shiite militiamen or with Iraqi soldiers and policemen in the area. “Everybody closes their shops by 2:30 p.m.,” Raheem said.
While the congressional delegation reported seeing crowds of Iraqis shopping in the market, Raheem said the number represented a sliver of the customers he used to see. “It is not even 10 percent of our work before the bombings, because people are afraid to come and it is harder to move,” he said.
Worse, he said, the closure of the main street by barriers has affected his business. If it was so safe, he said, “let them open the street, for the market has died since they put them there.”
OT—if the White House refuses to allow employees (like Rove) to testify, can’t the Dems just cut their funding until they do?
I know this is like the once-paralyzed patient exploring his new-found limbs, but seriously: isn’t there a budget item for the White House? Can’t we just not appropriate anything for them?
Remember: they’re Republicans! They don’t work for free!
Something else: McCain appears to be struggling to find his words. What is this all about? Unable to take all of his medication while visiting?
Slothrop … I’m not holding my breath!
So the two reasons we attacked Iraq were cheap oil and inexpensive rugs?
angie @ 105
Not bad. ;0)
hey Straightalk! wonder when those 6 newly bereft families will get the “full picture” that their loved ones might have died b/c their escorts and routines were changed as a direct result of your ’stroll’
I don’t think McCain will be in the race much longer. He seems to be on a rather steep physical and neuro-psychological slide. I am not sure what is going on but he looks and sounds bad.
I’m starting to think that the only one here with a truly untenable and dishonest position on iraq is Shrub himself.
We’re right, because establishing and sticking to a pull-out plan is the right thing to do now, and it’s the lease costly option for our troops, our treasury, regional stability and probably for the Iraqi people in the long term.
McCain’s right, in his own way, with his unlimited commitment scenario, because, sure, we CAN, in a sense of the term, “win” Iraq.. sure, we can win.. with a million troops (probably with the draft reinstated), 100,000 American fatalities and a few million dead Iraqis, 10 years, we CAN “win” in a narrow military definition of that term, whatever the meaning of victory would be in such a scenario.
Shrub on the other hand, is telling us that we can and wil achieve “victory” at little additional cost, no effort or sacrifice (other than from the requisite cannon fodder), tax cuts for the rich and a chicken in every pot.
It will be interesting to observe whether the Insurgents directly attack this market soon. Probably not for the shop owners and people that rely on that market for goods. No doubt saint McCain took that into account before he went on his heavily armored stroll.
Probably not.
Griffin @ 94
If they were able to observe what ship they came from, they probably could have. The ships look different enough that anyone who had some knowledge of modern naval ships could have told them apart, I think. Here’s the USS Underwood, and here’s the H.M.S . Cornwall. While they’re both frigates, and thus about the same size, they look quite different even from a fairly long distance.
Respectful Dissent @ 38
It’s sick. He’s pretending he’s on a vacation in some 1960’s third world country. I don’t think his sale will sell.
Steve @
99
May just have been too many paragraphs. WP is funky.
angie @
106
doobies doobies do…ba-dap-bump
Earlier this evening I emailed some non-fdl friends about returning from the tall timber of northern Minnesota to home here in Fargo. Seems to fit here, as well:
CD @
107
McCain and Graham have painted a huge BULLSEYE on that market.
Self serving idiots
Siun, Thank you. [What a photo]
One dollar rugs? Does anyone think Lindsey tipped the dealer or had someone else taste his tea in advance? I guess he bought five of them since McCain needs four to sweep all his lies under..
Steve @ 113
Agreed. A couple of years ago I saw him in London (I was lucky enough to attend the Wednesday PM questions session at Parliament, kind of cool for an American to see) and McCain was there the very same day. I was standing about 5′ from him before we went in to the House of Commons. At the time I thought he was looking great, very vigorous. But just lately he seems to be having some problems.
Slothrop @ 109
I noticed that too. He was close to being incoherent. Maybe the heat of the Baghdad sun got to him, or just the excitement of being out on a shopping spree in complete safety.
100 troops, 3 helicopter, two armored trucks, and a partridge in a pear tree, as someone above said.
I wonder if McCain or any of his people realize that he made himself look like a fool in front of the whole world.
You know, I think I finally understand the throught process behind the surge! The strategy is thus:
1. Announce a small surge of about 20,000 troops. Actually sneak in a few more thousand here & there while people aren’t looking, so it ends up being more like 45,000 without becoming big news.
2. Send St. McCain and Lindsey “Really, I’m Straight!” Graham to Baghdad to show how “safe” it is… when you have 100 soldiers, 3 Blackhawks, and 2 Apache gunships accompanying you.
3. Use this publicity stunt to show how every two Iraqi citizen in Baghdad who isn’t a “terrarist” should have their own personal set of 100 American soldiers, 3 Blackhawks, and 2 Apache gunships. That way, you can send hundreds of thousands more troops and materials, completely occupying the city so every Iraqi who has a job can buy a five rugs for five dollars. Because that’s all the Iraqis really want – an army of personal bodyguards and the right to buy cheap goods.
(great post, Siun! Horrifying pic.)
Brilliant!
Evening, Siun. This McCain story is really starting to be like something out of the Twilight Zone.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 111
expensive oil and inexpensive rugs!
btw kiddo, i was at a mini film thing friday night and saturday about how the palestines are enduring the occupation in the west bank and in rafah, which is in gaza. it’s not pretty. there wasn’t much i learned that was new to me, but it was gut punch after gut punch to see it visually. there’s not much i want more than peace in the middle east. and that long road has to start with the united states government getting their little evil selves outta there.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 109
Well, Iraq’s always been a bad place to get rugs because except for the Kurds in the north, there’s almost no indigenous tradition of carpet weaving from Iraq.
Now Iran on the other hand … cheap oil AND inexpensive rugs!
landofthefree @ 126
Great comment!
http://www.informationclearing…..e17447.htm
c’mon Nancy!
Eureka … thanks! the photo really jumped out as the best depiction of reality without using the bodies in morgues pics from this week … of which – horribly – there are a lot.
Angie … check the accounts of Nancy’s visit with Olmert … not sure what I think.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0704/S00016.htm
oh dear
Blub @ 115
I don’t have the link, but Henry Kissinger just this weekend said that the war in Iraq is unwinnable, if that means controlling the whole country militarily. As someone experienced in an unwinnable war, that opinion counts for something.
You can bet your bottom dollar that he has already shared that tidbit of wisdom with his patron and friend Bush, and Bush knows it too.
The whole game right now is extending the war until Bush can leave the mess to his successor. Then his “legacy” is preserved. He left office with things “looking up” in Iraq, but the next president screwed it up.
From WaPo: Pence said he was deeply moved by his ability to “mix and mingle unfettered among ordinary Iraqis” and to have tea and haggle over the price of a rug. The Shorja market, he said, was “like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summer time.”
If there’s anyone here who doesn’t have to work tomorrow, please call the Indiana tourism board and ask them for a comment on this.
Siun @ 133
do you have a link?
you know there is something horrifyingly
‘Vonnegutian’ about the carpet-scoring deal.
How many Democratic ‘leaders’ have come out against the premeditated war of aggression against Iran?
Or do they want carpets too?
Frank Probst @ 136
and getting caught in a grain thresher is like running a relay race.
Prairie at 7:39 … that is soo sad.
There’s nothing that makes this worth it.
greenwarrior @ 128
I know what you mean.
I posted this hours ago about Huckleberry’s rugs in a thread where disbelief about it was occurring:
Siun @ 133– so far, I am not very impressed. I laud her for visiting Syria, but not if she is carrying just Olmert’s water. I will look further, though. Hopefully her full remarks to the Knesset are available now.
greenwarrior … give me a few minutes and I’ll grab the link … it was from Olmert’s office so I’m hoping there’s more coverage from another source – back with link here shortly.
angie @ 130
The Iran war will start when US aircraft receive ground to air missiles fired from Iran’s Gleiwitz base.
Siun @ 134
oh dear indeed!
~~~Nancy Pelosi is on her way to Lebanon, but her staff may want to get her on the phone. Or then again, maybe not. There is a sit-in underway in her Capitol Hill office today, Friday, March 30th, with military families and Iraq vets requesting to schedule an appointment to talk to her. They’ve been asking for four months now for her to agree to meet with gold star and military families, veterans for peace, Iraq vets, and active duty troops. Pelosi proposed a meeting with military mom Tina Richards after a video came out showing Rep. David Obey yelling at her in the hallway, but once the video had made the news in a major way Pelosi apparently decided it was too late to head it off and lost interest in meeting with Richards.
Today Tina Richards is sitting in Pelosi’s office, commited to not leaving unless she is arrested. She has never been arrested before. Tina and Lori Perdue just phoned in a report. There are 11 people there at the moment as part of the sit-in. They had 22 earlier, but half left to go recruit more people. They’re planning to pack the office by 4 or 5 p.m.They expect it to close around 5 or 6 p.m.
They say that all they’re asking for is an appointment for a meeting. Tina’s son is a Marine who has struggled to get any sort of health care out of the military. He recently thought he had finally succeeded in that effort, but the military has decided to prosecute him for wearing part of his uniform in a march on the Pentagon, meaning that he faces the loss of medical benefits and possible imprisonment.~~~
No Blood for Rugs!
From the Arizona (McCain’s home state) Republic:
Chocolate TRex upstairs
Renee in Ohio @ 89
Speaking of Jesus (and his General)...
I believe that she/Tina was given a police escort out of Pelosi’s office yesterday after waiting 8 hours.
believe Tina Richards rec’d a police escort from the Speaker’s office – this is the same mom whom David Obey called a “liberal idiot”
aReader @ 145
I told you it was about the rugs. Did you listen? Nooooo, you go on and on about the oil! There’s oil everywhere! Where else can you get Iraqi rugs?
kirk murphy @ 144
yes. Gleiwitzian-Iranian aggression !!!!
And they’re
unplugging the incubators in the aircraft carrriers too !!!
dreamcatcher @ 147
How many has Hillary missed?
I sincerely hope not, kirk @ 144.
I heard something that stunned me the other day on NPR– a caller said that ‘we have won in Iraq and Afghanistan, but I am not sure we can win in Iran. But, I guess we do have nukes.’
huh?
Good news:
at least the Republicans aren’t swift-boating Speaker Pelosi.
Wiki on David Swanson:
Greenwarrior:
Pelosi link:
Pelosi at Israeli dinner
Pelosi will talk kidnapped soldiers with Syrian president
JERUSALEM (CNN) — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday she will bring up the plight of Israeli soldiers kidnapped by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah during her delegation’s visit to Syria next week.
Hezbollah has strong support from Syria. The Islamist militant group’s abduction of two Israeli soldiers from inside Israel last summer sparked a war between Hezbollah and Israel.
Speaking to a dinner of the Knesset in Jerusalem, Pelosi displayed I.D. tags of three Israeli soldiers — Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, held by Hezbollah, and Gilad Shalit, who was abducted by Hamas militants last year in a cross-border raid into Israel from Gaza.
The Hamas militant group has leadership in Syria and support from the Syrian government.
Pelosi said the Israeli I.D. tags were given to her by Goldwasser’s wife Karnit during a visit to Washington. She said she displays them prominently in her office, and tells visitors about “the priority that my colleagues and I” place in securing their safe return.
“I carry them with me today, with the promise that we must never rest until they are all safely at home. And yes, I will mention this to the president of Syria,” she said.
Pelosi’s visit to Syria comes in the context of a political battle at home. The White House refuses direct talks with Damascus, saying Syrian leaders have failed promises too many times in the past.
But the bipartisan Iraq Study Group called for talks with Syria to help bring stability to Iraq.
Other U.S. lawmakers have traveled to Syria.
When Pelosi meets with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, she will be the highest-ranking American to meet with that country’s leadership since then-President Bill Clinton met with the late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in 1994.
Pelosi and her delegation, which includes one Republican — David Hobson of Ohio — will also meet with Lebanese leaders in Beirut.
“It has been almost nine months since Hezbollah’s unprovoked attack on Israel, yet Hezbollah continues to violate the U.N. resolution that set conditions to end the end of the violence,” she said, adding that the 10,000 U.N. troops sent to the region “must be successful in preventing the shipment of weapons and supplies allowing Hezbollah to rearm … Hezbollah must be disarmed.
“And together we must have a simple message for Tehran, whose support of Hezbollah is well known: Iran must not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. The time to leverage all our power is now, and the way to do it is through diplomacy, with stronger sanctions and smarter policy choices.”
She added that Iran “is a problem for the world.”
sadly, I did not see a mention of Nancy raising the question of Palestinian hostages.
Between Graham’s rugs and McCain’s centurion-style bodyguard, methinks the Iraq outing by the honorable senators was a PR fiasco.
aReader @ 146
that will make a great letter to the editor once the story appears in MSM.
Siun @ 158
Very disappointing.
dreamcatcher @
135
I think what he has in mind, is “walking out” in August or September. Even Bush considers it more important for Repugs to win in November, 2008 than to defy an ever growing majority of voters as well as at least half the Repugs by then. it just doesn’t make any sense for him to “stay the course” for the next 21 months.
Thanks Siun for posting that article.
I am not impressed at all by what has been written thus far. And if she continues to hold up the id tags of captured Israeli soldiers– the same ones that she referred to last in her a*p*c speech, and yet never show me one of our fallen American’s dogtags, I will have to barf and back away.
sorry.
what about the Palestinian hostages?
I do not think Senator Clinton if elected President, has any interest in the Palestinian situation.
Siun – I think the picture is very important, and I’m glad you posted it. While it’s chilling and disturbing, it shows what people are facing every day in Iraq.
thanks for the article siun. while not the circus that graham and lindsay created, it not only doesn’t inspire me, it worries me what she’s saying about iran and what’s she’s not saying about the wall and the palestinians and peace with the neighbors.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 164
I’m not sure that many in our congress do.
And if they do, they don’t dare speak out.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 164
Clinton cannot win the Democratic nomination. She cannot take Florida, California, New Hampshire, Iowa… She has as many votes as she is going to get. Rank and file people are not paying attention until Christmas time.
People will ask themselves “can she win” 1 – being female (not my prejudice, I would much favor Pelosi, over Clinton) and 2 – all the Clinton “weak morals” baggage. She is perceived as “slick” stands-for-nothing.
Republicans are going so easy on her for a reason – They would LOVE to have her get the nomination. This is their only chance to kick Dem ass.
dreamcatcher @ 159
Pretty much I think. Even CNN’s, um, war corespondent, Kyra Phillips was laughing about it
‘progressives’ who wage war on behalf of………oops………..can’t say it……….
apparently Drudge is claiming that Michael Ware heckled them at the press conference ….
also tape from the presser at thinkprogress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/…..aq-stroll/
angie@155
there are factions behind all of this that believe disruption & chaos is, in & of itself, a worthy policy & goal. A sort of randomly occurring regime change, taken to the extreme. [I’m not sure how to describe it any better, let alone make any sense of it.] But’s it’s there, buried deep within the whispers in the back rooms. It’s the same force driving upheavals like we saw in Lebanon last year. If you don’t like the way things are, shake things up and see what settles from the dust. I actually heard George say it in front of a camera a couple of years back. From a technical standpoint, it probably hinges on the premise of destroying a society such that a popular revolt ensues, ending in a regime change without our direct involvement.
it’s dark, and it’s terribly perverted. But then so is a day trip to Baghdad on the taxpayers money to buy five rugs for $5 from people who may not survive another week.
a kind of puke in a bottle, labelled “Made in U.S.A.”
While Johnny and Lindsay were strolling through the marketplace, six American troops were killed in the Baghdad suburbs. Kinda makes their arrogant “….so there” attitude really suck. I hope they enjoyed the stroll through a marketplace that will probably be bombed into oblivion tomorrow. What a couple of putz!
$450bil.(on the books) another $300bil. or so off the books a year for “defense” gets you:
1.industrial competitors who eat your lunch.
2.a few rich white guys getting obscenely richer.
3.red neck lynchings of tinpot dictators.
4.
cheap gas5.international pariah status.
6.cheap rugs
I am so pissed about this. Who does John McCain think he is to risk the lives of American soldiers for a cheap campaign publicity stunt? He put the lives and well being of honorable troops in jeopardy for nothing but a photo op. These republican morons are utterly reprehensible. It’s not enough that they have started this miserable war, but they are willing to sacrifice lives for their dirty rhetoric. Completely disgusting.