Did McCain's visit lead to the massacre of 21 Baghdad market vendors?

[JackRiddler]

Most everyone seems to have missed the horrible consequence of McCain's visit to a Baghdad market under heavily armed escort, where the Senator talked about how safe it all was for the locals. Some of the vendors interviewed afterwards complained that his photo opportunity had put them in danger.

The next day, according to this piece in the London Times, 21 of the market workers were rounded up and murdered. If accurate and true, this means they died in part because of McCain's utter, callous stupidity.

James Hider reporting from Baghdad:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article1604931.ece

"...21 Shia market workers were ambushed, bound and shot dead north of the capital. The victims came from the Baghdad market visited the previous day by John McCain, the US presidential candidate, who said that an American security plan in the capital was starting to show signs of progress."

(...)

"Mr McCain said that the situation was showing signs of improvement and blamed waning support in the United States for the war on the media, which were portraying an overly negative image of the crisis."

--

This is really horrifying.

[Rageneau]

1. This would be a BIG story if it were Pelosi, not McCain, who visited that market.

[JackRiddler]

9. This WILL be a big story if confirmed...

We will be among those who will pin it on this bastard, and at least end the threat that he will ever be president. Sadly it won't help the poor people who died but it's the least we could do.

[fooj]

21. Yes, indeed.

Has anyone sent this to KO? Thanks for the post. McCain is a despicable, little man.

[catmandu57]

2. Could be

It's not to say it wouldn't have happened otherwise, but it seems to have been a convenient vehidle to deliver a message, one that probably flew over johnny's head.

[Joe Chi Minh]

19. Why might it have happened otherwise, anyway? Surely, it's a very specific response to

a very specific act of criminal folly on McCain's part?

[catmandu57]

20. Yes it was

I was just being cautious I didn't want to be attacked by mccaniacs who might be lurking about.

[JackRiddler]

38. kick

[kirby]

3. Yeah, but McCain bolstered the Iraqi Economy

This is what General Patraeus said about McCain when asked about this subject on the News Hour:

"Yep, there was security there, but he was out --
actually he helped the Iraqi economy quite a bit, bought a number of carpets, in fact. And he haggled with the merchants himself,
with an interpreter, and was moving all around very freely."

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3200244&mesg_id=3200281

[IChing]

10. General Betray us wants to play soldier and propagandist for McCain

He has more toys to play with his surge.

[frogcycle]

23. mccain and petreaus are sluts

whores
worse than whores

they are whores who will do it with donkeys
with skunks

while eating roadkill and drinking bilgewater

they are trying desperately to prop up this utter disaster of a so-called president when they know FULL WELL everything they are saying is lies and will CAUSE MORE DEATHS both to Iraqis and to our military people.

may they burn in hell

[spanone]

4. Not callous stupidity. Callous calculated political theater of the most deadly type.

Human shields to promote his bid for the presidency.

[jaksavage]

5. Send it to your friends

and enemies.


IMPEACH!!!!

[orpupilofnature57]

6. Yes , because he and his ilk have an Agenda that will eventually kill..

us all.

[walldude]

7. No.. it was a total Coincidence

McCaine has used up any good will he may have earned in the past, the blood of these people is directly on his hands. I hope the fuck can sleep at night.

[LSK]

8. I posted it a few days ago

And WilliamPitt used it in his latest truthout piece.

[MrModerate]

11. On an existential level, this demonstrates . . .

That our cultural values don't permit us to wage the type of war that *would* be successful in an environment like Iraq today. We are hamstrung when it comes to coping with cold-blooded execution as a demonstration of political will.

And I for one am glad we are. Otherwise, Cheney would be taking target practice using concentration camp inmates in some godforsaken gulag in Wyoming right now (and loving it, of course).

However, in addition to McCain's unfitness for higher office, this incident illustrates why our adventure in Iraq was doomed from the start (or at least after the first 4-6 weeks -- there's a chance that if we'd managed to keep the lid on things so that some sort of authoritarian government had been able to establish itself we'd have "peace" in Iraq today) -- terrorism has never gotten established as a socially acceptable practice for western governments. (Even the 19th century's genocidal wars against native Americans were sufficiently out of the public eye -- Abu Ghraib prison, anyone -- that the larger population could ignore them.) We're not good at terrorism and that constrains us in using military forces *against* terrorism.

So we're going to have to find another solution, and it sure as hell isn't invading other countries, ripping out their social sinews, and hoping for the best.

[BrklynLiberal]

12. Well, it sure as hell did nothing to prevent the tragedy!!!!!

[BlueManDude]

13. No, it was Pelosi's fault.

[bigtree]

14. it mirrors Bush's nonsense about our presence there

we're hurting, not helping

[smoogatz]

15. The cost of McCain's little rug-buying junket

so far: 21 Iraqi lives, several million dollars of the taxpayers' money, and the last tattered shreds of McCain's credibility.

[flyarm]

16. yes..just yes! eom

[Bronyraurus]

17. It probably led to it

but I don't think you can pin it on McCain. Your best bet is to pin it on the people who did it.

[JackRiddler]

24. What does this mean?

No one's saying that McCain killed the 21 people, or that his visit in any way justified this barbaric massacre. However, as you say, it appears to have "led to it." His callous disregard and exploitation of these people for the purpose of telling an outrageous lie (that the market was safe) served as a cause for the killers to demonstrate otherwise. Predictably. The vendors themselves said they were being endangered as a result of his visit. McCain proved he was willing to risk the lives of innocent people so that he could put on a show about himself. And they died.

[Bronyraurus]

25. Where did the vendors say that?

[JackRiddler]

27. Vendors spoke to "New York Times"

I will be willing to revise my views on this story if anything I am quoting from the "London Times" report or from the "New York Times" proves inaccurate.

Story from NYT, login required:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/world/middleeast/03mccain.html?_r=1&oref=login

Given the short paragraphs, I hope it's acceptable that I quote about 1/3 of this very relevant article...

McCain Wrong on Iraq Security, Merchants Say

(photo by) Sgt. Matthew Roe/10th Public Affairs Operations Center, via Reuters

(caption) Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, in baseball cap, visited the Shorja market in Baghdad on Sunday with Gen. David H. Petraeus, left, the commander of the American forces in Iraq, accompanied by military escorts. Mr. McCain led a Congressional delegation on the visit.

By KIRK SEMPLE
Published: April 3, 2007

BAGHDAD, April 2 — A day after members of an American Congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain pointed to their brief visit to Baghdad’s central market as evidence that the new security plan for the city was working, the merchants there were incredulous about the Americans’ conclusions.

Representative Mike Pence, an Indiana Republican, said the Shorja market was “like a normal outdoor market in Indiana.”

“What are they talking about?” Ali Jassim Faiyad, the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the market, said Monday. “The security procedures were abnormal!”

The delegation arrived at the market, which is called Shorja, on Sunday with more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees — the equivalent of an entire company — and attack helicopters circled overhead, a senior American military official in Baghdad said. The soldiers redirected traffic from the area and restricted access to the Americans, witnesses said, and sharpshooters were posted on the roofs. The congressmen wore bulletproof vests throughout their hourlong visit.

(...)

During their visit on Sunday, the Americans were buttonholed by merchants and customers who wanted to talk about how unsafe they felt and the urgent need for more security in the markets and throughout the city, witnesses said.

“They asked about our conditions, and we told them the situation was bad,” said Aboud Sharif Kadhoury, 63, who peddles prayer rugs at a sidewalk stand. He said he sold a small prayer rug worth less than $1 to a member of the Congressional delegation. (The official paid $20 and told Mr. Kadhoury to keep the change, the vendor said.)

(... more of same from other vendors ...)

But those conversations were not reflected in the congressmen’s comments at the news conference on Sunday. Instead, the politicians spoke of strolling through the marketplace, haggling with merchants and drinking tea. “The most deeply moving thing for me was to mix and mingle unfettered,” Mr. Pence said.

(... more bullshit from the US politicians about how it felt like Sunday in Indiana ...)

Several merchants said Monday that the Americans’ visit might have only made the market a more inviting target for insurgents.

“Every time the government announces anything — that the electricity is good or the water supply is good — the insurgents come to attack it immediately,” said Abu Samer, 49, who would give only his nickname out of concern for his safety.

But even though he was fearful of a revenge attack, he said, he could not afford to stay away from the market. This was his livelihood. “We can never anticipate when they will attack,” he said, his voice heavy with gloomy resignation. “This is not a new worry.”

Ahmad Fadam and Wisam A. Habeeb contributed reporting.

ON EDIT:

Now please stop trying to minimize what McCain (and his fellows) did.

He went to the marketplace, where the vendors told him it was unsafe for them, and either he ignored that or didn't care. Then he essentially announced to the world: "THIS IS SAFE! BRING IT ON!" He did this knowing that he wasn't playing with his own life, or even with the lives of Americans. He invited some death-squad to go prove him otherwise by killing innocent Iraqis who were unlucky enough to be targeted by his irresponsible PR stop. And that is what appears to have happened.

[JackRiddler]

28. See also from DU front page...

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/04/04/publiceye/entry2648776.shtml

CBS Iraq Correspondent regarding McCain: "He's talking rubbish. And he should not get away with it."

Brian Montopoli: It seems that some reporters, including yourself and CNN's Michael Ware, have really taken umbrage at John McCain's recent comments, essentially saying that there are a lot of neighborhoods where you can walk around relatively safely. Is it fair to say that that really sort of bothered reporters?

Allen Pizzey: Yes. It's disgraceful for a man seeking highest office, I think, to talk utter rubbish. And that is utter rubbish. It's electoral propaganda. It is simply not true. No one in his right mind who has been to Baghdad believes that story.

Now, McCain and some other senators were there on Sunday, and they claimed, "Oh, we walked around for a whole hour…and we drove in from the airport. Gosh, aren't we great, we drove in from the airport." Excuse me, Mr. McCain, you drove in in a large convoy of heavily armed vehicles. The last one had a sign on it saying "Keep back 100 yards. Deadly force authorized." Every single car that they approached or passed pulled over and stopped, because that's the way it is. When one of those security details goes by, every ordinary person gets the hell out of the way, in case they get shot.

If he did walk around that market, and I didn't see him do it, and he didn't announce he was going to do it, you can bet your life there were an awful lot of soldiers deployed to make sure that nobody came near that place. He's talking rubbish. And he should not get away with it.

[Bronyraurus]

26. People are saying that

McCain has those peoples' blood on his hands. I say he doesn't.

[ToeBot]

36. Of course McCain is culpable, just like Ralph Nader is responsible for Bush's victory

After all, it is precisely the same logic used to arrive at both conclusions.

[slowry]

37. How do you figure?

Some people make statements and actually back them up.

The message seems quite clear. An American politician visits a market in Baghdad, claiming it's the safest place on Earth, and the next day 21 people are killed there. He invited that. Big fucking bullseye on those people.

Please explain how the logic of this situation is identical to the one you brought up.

[Jackpine Radical]

18. Not McCain's fault.

Clinton set a bad example for the insurgents with his blowjob.

[Fridays Child]

22. Here's the email I just sent to his office.

". . . 21 Shia market workers were ambushed, bound and shot dead north of the capital.

"The victims came from the Baghdad market visited the previous day by John McCain, the US presidential candidate, who said that an American security plan in the capital was starting to show signs of progress."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21496572-2703,00.html

If there is even the smallest possibility that your Baghdad photo-op is responsible for the above-referenced massacre, you owe the citizens of Iraq a huge apology. And you owe the U.S. voters your withdrawal from the race for the White House.

Shame, shame, shame on you.

Since his campaign web site doesn't offer much in the way of contact information, if you want to email him, go to http://mccain.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm?ID=64 and use his Phoenix office address (5353 North 16th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85016) as the return address.

[Disturbed]

29. American tax payers paid for McLame's stunt and

Iraqis paid with their lives. McLame has no shame.

[JackRiddler]

30. Kick to put an end to the McCain campaign!

nt

[IChing]

32. I think he just did with his 60 minutes story.

Now I almost want him as a canidate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2797690&mesg_id=2797690

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0626497120070406

[Radical Activist]

31. This is evidence that it isn't a religious civil war.

This suggests that there are two sides: those who cooperate with the US occupation and those who fight it.

[JackRiddler]

34. You know that's too cold for me.

There is no excuse for this massacre. How are the market vendors cooperating with the US occupation? Is this an object lesson, performed on people who just happened to be in the vicinity when McCain visited? Pretty fucked up.

I trust almost nothing we hear from Iraq. All these factions and militias. Some of them act as fronts for others, some work for the occupation, or for the Interior Ministry, or for Iran or Saudi Arabia... some are tribal and some no doubt have "genuine" religious motivation. Who can say who is bombing, who is kidnapping and murdering, what the rationale is in each case, and who is allowed to blame it on whom?

Given that this massacre happened the day after McCain emphasized how safe the market is, and after the vendors themselves insisted otherwise, this certainly looks as though it was staged as a horrific response to McCain's visit.

[Karenina]

33. McCain's visit and the blowback

are DIRECTLY RELATED. It isn't rocket science. :eyes:
The question of WHO delivered the blowback is OPEN. :tinfoilhat:

[JackRiddler]

35. Well it's open...

But I have a hard time constructing any kind of "inside job" scenario on this crime. With the US now supporting al-Qaeda in Baluchistan and Iran, I can imagine that a particularly rabid faction in Iraq might be pumped secretly by a covert UK/US operation to keep the chaos going (as a cover for death squad operations), and that such a group perpetrated this crime. But not that this was ordered from "our" side - what would be the motive?

[JackRiddler]

39. kick

[JackRiddler]

40. kick again...