NY Times: "McCain Wrong on Iraq Security, Merchants Say"

As if we needed any more assurance that a Congressional delegation walking through a Bagdad market in bullet-proof vests with helicopters circling overhead was not an indication of every day security there...

“What are they talking about?” Ali Jassim Faiyad, the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the market, said Monday...“They paralyzed the market when they came,” Mr. Faiyad said during an interview in his shop on Monday. “This was only for the media."

However, McCain shockingly was topped by his friend Mike Pence who shockingly may be even more out of touch, describing the Shorja market as:

“like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime”

The real question is how did McCain and Pence expect to get away with comments like this:

“I just came from one,” he (McCain) replied sharply. “Things are better and there are encouraging signs.”

He added, “Never have I been able to go out into the city as I was today.”

Its a good thing they weren't the only people some of the merchants decided to talk with:

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.