Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
April 4, 2007
Pg. 6
By John M. Broder
WASHINGTON, April 3 — Members of a Republican Congressional delegation to Iraq who were criticized by Iraqis for portraying the security situation in Baghdad as much improved said Tuesday that they were realistic about the dangers that remain there.
Representative Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana, said a brief weekend tour of the Shorja market had given him some hope that the recent increase in American forces in Baghdad and some new military tactics were having a measurable impact on security in the city.
He said he was able to walk around the marketplace with a relatively small military escort and without a helmet. He compared it to an open-air market in a small Indiana town.
“There were thousands of people just walking the streets,” he said. “It was very encouraging to me.”
But Mr. Pence stressed that he did not believe that Baghdad had suddenly become safe. “Is there violence? Yes,” he said. “Are there tough days ahead? You bet.”
Some Baghdad residents interviewed for an article that appeared in The New York Times on Tuesday said the delegation, led by Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, had seen an unrealistic version of the central marketplace. The delegation was accompanied by more than 100 soldiers in armored vehicles and watched by helicopters and snipers.
The market has been the scene of deadly bombings, including one in February that killed 60 people.
Neither Mr. Pence nor Mr. McCain was available Monday to comment on the Iraqis’ remarks in the article.
Mark Salter, a senior aide to Mr. McCain, said Tuesday that the senator was under no illusions about the violence in Iraq. At a news conference in Baghdad on Monday, Mr. McCain said, “We have a new strategy, and it’s making progress,” Mr. Salter said, reading from a transcript. “I’m not saying the mission is accomplished or the insurgency is in its last throes or this is a few dead-enders.”
Mr. Salter said Mr. McCain had received briefings from Gen. David H. Petraeus and Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the top commanders in Iraq, about the effect of the new American deployments, the training of Iraqis and political developments.
“No one, whether a supporter or opponent of the war, has been more brutally honest about what he sees in Iraq,” Mr. Salter said of his boss. “What he said was that these are reasons for cautious — very cautious — optimism about the effects of the new strategy.”
April 4, 2007
Pg. 6
By John M. Broder
WASHINGTON, April 3 — Members of a Republican Congressional delegation to Iraq who were criticized by Iraqis for portraying the security situation in Baghdad as much improved said Tuesday that they were realistic about the dangers that remain there.
Representative Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana, said a brief weekend tour of the Shorja market had given him some hope that the recent increase in American forces in Baghdad and some new military tactics were having a measurable impact on security in the city.
He said he was able to walk around the marketplace with a relatively small military escort and without a helmet. He compared it to an open-air market in a small Indiana town.
“There were thousands of people just walking the streets,” he said. “It was very encouraging to me.”
But Mr. Pence stressed that he did not believe that Baghdad had suddenly become safe. “Is there violence? Yes,” he said. “Are there tough days ahead? You bet.”
Some Baghdad residents interviewed for an article that appeared in The New York Times on Tuesday said the delegation, led by Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, had seen an unrealistic version of the central marketplace. The delegation was accompanied by more than 100 soldiers in armored vehicles and watched by helicopters and snipers.
The market has been the scene of deadly bombings, including one in February that killed 60 people.
Neither Mr. Pence nor Mr. McCain was available Monday to comment on the Iraqis’ remarks in the article.
Mark Salter, a senior aide to Mr. McCain, said Tuesday that the senator was under no illusions about the violence in Iraq. At a news conference in Baghdad on Monday, Mr. McCain said, “We have a new strategy, and it’s making progress,” Mr. Salter said, reading from a transcript. “I’m not saying the mission is accomplished or the insurgency is in its last throes or this is a few dead-enders.”
Mr. Salter said Mr. McCain had received briefings from Gen. David H. Petraeus and Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the top commanders in Iraq, about the effect of the new American deployments, the training of Iraqis and political developments.
“No one, whether a supporter or opponent of the war, has been more brutally honest about what he sees in Iraq,” Mr. Salter said of his boss. “What he said was that these are reasons for cautious — very cautious — optimism about the effects of the new strategy.”