Changing your vacation plans? Maybe considering a shopping spree in downtown Baghdad?
Republican presidential hopeful Senator John McCain boasted about shopping and chatting to Iraqis in a constantly bombed Baghdad market on Sunday, adamant that the US troop surge is paying off.
Making a lightning trip to Iraq, McCain and three fellow Republican congressmen told slightly incredulous journalists about their "deeply moving" downtown walkabout, sipping tea and chewing the fat with welcoming Iraqis.
"After landing at the airport we drove from the airport into various parts of the city. We stopped at Bab Sharqi market where we spent well over an hour shopping and talking with the local people," said McCain.
Meanwhile, down the street a little ways:
Suspected Sunni militants executed 21 Shiite workers north of Baghdad and killed 12 people in Kirkuk Monday as insurgents stepped up their fight outside the capital away from a US military crackdown.
Traveling in three minibuses, the workers drove straight into an ambush on the main road out of Baghdad to the neighboring Diyala province, now the second most dangerous part of the country in the ever shifting warfare.
The 21 Shiites, together with six Kurdish colleagues who were also snatched but who are still missing, worked in Baghdad's popular Shorja market where 60 people were killed in a double suicide bombing March 29.
Still haven't decided where to take your vacation? Consider this:
Although US diplomats say that violence has dropped 25 percent in Baghdad since the crackdown began February 14, Iraqi figures show that the nationwide death toll rose by 15 percent in March as insurgents increasingly act elsewhere.
In the northern oil city of Kirkuk, a suicide bomber blew up a truck near a primary school and police station killing 12 people, including a baby.
Another 178 people were wounded in the blast that caused extensive damage at a time when US troops were apparently visiting the police station, Kirkuk district police commander Major General Torhan Youssef Abdel Rahman said.
There are two possible conclusions. McCain either really believes that things are getting better in Iraq,or he's lying. Haven't we had enough delusional, lying politicians?
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Update: Here's a picture of the market from two months ago:
Here's the market when McCain was there:
Just remember that when you go on a shopping spree over in Baghdad to make sure to pack your brigade of soldiers with body armor.
Would love to go shopping in this market, its supposed to be great, there is a another good polticial roundup i read here too: http://www.techtorpedo.com/the-political-importance-of-iraqs-shorja-market/
Posted by: Panther_edenbur | June 04, 2015 at 06:34 PM