fayfreethinkers.com

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.

“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.

“They paralyzed the market when they came,” Mr. Faiyad said during an interview in his shop on Monday. “This was only for the media.”
http://tinyurl.com/2gjyth

DAR
Here is how McCain's surge is going:

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Iraq Says 1,861 Civilians Killed in March

LINK

Iraqi figures estimate that civilian deaths from violence across the
country rose by 13 percent last month, despite the security crackdown in
Baghdad. Data compiled by several ministries put civilian deaths in
March at 1,861 - compared to 1,645 in February.

McCain hasn't read enough history to know the way "insurgencies" work. If you move a bunch of troops to point A, they hit points B - G. It's like punching jello - it gives at the point of impact, but splats out everywhere else.

Here is the terrible update on McCain's disasterous trip:

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A NEWBORN baby was one of at least 14 children and adults killed today when a suicide bomber detonated a truck laden with explosives close to a primary school in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
The latest massacre of Iraqi children came as 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.

Is this retribution for McCain's visit? These people play Russian Roulette with the lives of the people of Iraq.

Also, one person writes:

"The good news is that Senator Lindsey Graham got "five rugs for five bucks" at the market over the weekend."

Background on that:

Greg Mitchell: "Well, a National Public Radio reporter returned and found that grateful merchant—and uncovered a quite different story. The carpet seller, Ahmed al-Krudi, recalled for NPR: "I didn't accept the money. I said to myself, 'they must be guests, so I must give them a good impression of Iraqis.' After all, we are occuped by these Americans — and they are accompanied by a lot of U.S. security."

Al-Krudi then said that actually he favored the insurgents: “We are not against the resistance. We are with them. However, he who claims to be with the resistance must fight the occupiers, not the Iraqi people. A huge number of U.S forces came yesterday. Why didn't they shoot at them, instead of harming us?”…more here