McCain was on CNN saying how Baghdad is so much safer since the "crackdown" began.
Wolf Blitzer -
I asked him about that in the last half hour. Here's what you told Bill Bennett on his radio show last Monday.
"There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today....The US is beginning to succeed in Iraq" (the text of the quote put up on the screen).
Everything we hear is that if you leave the green zone, that secure zone, relatively speaking, you're in trouble if you're an American.....
McCain - You know that's where you ought to catch up on things Wolf..... General Petraeus goes out there almost every dany in an unarmed HUMVEE.... I think you ought to catch up. You see, you are giving the old line of three months ago. I understand it, you certainly don't get it through the filter of some of the media but I know for a fact that much of the success thhat we're experiencing, including the ability of Americans in many parts - not all, we've got a long way to go.... we've only got two of the five brigades there... to go into some neighborhoods in Baghdad in a secure manner....
cut to reality below the fold
Wolf - Let's go live to Baghdad....right now CNN's Michael Ware is standing by - who's been ther efour years....
Michael Ware (Perhaps one of the BEST correspondents in Iraq - someone whose credibility is beyond question)-
Well I'd certainly like to bring Senator McCain up to speed if he ever gives me the chance. And if I have any difficulty hearing you right now Wolf, it's because of the helicopters circling overhead and and the gunbattle that is blazing away just a few blocks down the road.
Is Baghdad any safer? Sectarian violence - one particular type of violence - is down but none of the American generals here on the ground have anything like (Ware's stress) Senator McCain's confidence.
Senator McCain's credibility now on Iraq which has been so solid to this point ( REALLY?!? I beg to differ...) has now been left out hanging to dry... to suggest that there's any neighborhood in this city where an American can walk freely is beyond ludicrous.... I'd love Senator McCain to tell me where that neighborhood is so he and I can go for a stroll
.....and to think that David - General David Petraeus, travels this city in an unarmed HUMVEE, (clear incredulity in Ware's voice).....I mean in the hour since Senator McCain has said this ,(emphasis added) I've spoken to some military sources and there was laughter all the way down the line.... I mean certainly the general travels in a HUMVEE, there's multiple HUMVEES around it, HEAVILY armed, there's attack helicopters overhead, drones, sniper teams, ALL SORTS of layers of protection.... ... Senator McCain is WAY off base on this one...... Wolf....
a pretty accurate transcript courtesy of TIVO replay
Either there's a pretty elaborate Potemkin Village that's been constructed in Iraq for poliicians to tour - or McCain is completely oblivious.......
Funny how NO politician ever seems to talk to troops on the ground or guys like Ware that have been there since the beginning and who've been out there with US AND Iraqi troops....Ware is one of the best informed and bravest - he even got grabbed by insurgents on Haifa Street and was freed only because locals had given their word for his protection....
oops....back to Ware after Senate coverage....
Wolf - paraphrased - When Senator McCain says that there are some areas where Americans can walk around......aren't there ANY?
Ware - I can say this quite simply NO
(he lists the dangers - insurgents criminals.....etc......)
......you'd barely last 20 minutes out there.... I don't know what Neverland Senator McCain is living in (my emphasis).....
At this point I'm running behind TIVO and can't keep up but Ware gives a full description of the violence currently occurring - shaking his head at the concept that things are in any way "better".