BAGHDAD — A day after members of an American congressional delegation led by Sen. John McCain pointed to their brief visit to Baghdad’s central market as evidence that the new security plan for the city is 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 rooftops. The congressmen wore bullet-proof vests throughout their hour-long visit.
“They paralyzed the market when they came,” Faiyad said in his shop on Monday. “This was only for the media.”
He added, “This will not change anything.”
At a news conference shortly after their outing, McCain, R-Ariz., and his three congressional colleagues described Shorja as a safe, bustling place full of hopeful and warmly welcoming Iraqis — “like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime,” offered Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., who was a member of the delegation.
So according to senator Mike Pence visiting the Shorja market in Baghdad, having to wear a bulletproof vest, being accompanied by more than 100 soldiers in armored humvees, with attack helicopters circling overhead, and sharpshooters on the rooftops, somehow reminded him of “a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime.”
Screw Baghdad Indiana has gone to hell!
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