London

It is of course a city so much more than palaces and museums:

...and again:

...of course so was Baghdad, and of course one wrong never justifies another. Let's just be thankful today didn't turn out the way someone wanted it.

How bad it is in Iraq

The author of Baghdad Burning is leaving Baghdad. The post is worth reading as it gives you a sense of the agony that a soon-to-be refugee must feel about abandoning home.

Maybe she can rent out the family home to John McCain as a vacation spot. He can spend his downtime strolling the streets of Baghdad and taking in its markets. What do you say, senator?

Lurching Contrasts

The BBC World Service followed up a report on the Virginia Tech killer with a quick blurb on a car bombing in Baghdad. In a way we have a sort of perverse luxury here, don't we? Mass killing is rare enough here that we can pour over all the morbid details whereas in Iraq it's another day, another car bomb in a crowded street.

In both cases I think we can know profiles generally. Like most school shooters, the VT killer appears to have been a bit of loner who was into guns and left a body of disturbing writing and pictures. But we won't stop there will we? In the coming days this shooter's life will be picked apart. What music did he like? Video games? Movies?

We will know everything and yet it will tell us nothing we didn't all assume the first minute we heard about this killing. Meanwhile the suicide bomber toils in anonymity - another easy profile, just not picked apart to the minutiae.

Iraq is Safe Enough - For Photo Ops

The New York Times has an article on what went into McCain's little walkabout and what the locals thought about it. One Abu Samer saw through the whole thing:

“He is just using this visit for publicity. He is just using it for himself. They’ll just take a photo of him at our market and they will just show it in the United States. He will win in America and we will have nothing.”

Welcome to electoral politics, Mr. Samer.

McCain's Entourage

Apparently Baghdad is totally safe if you have one hundred US soldiers, three Blackhawks, and two Apaches guarding you. Oh yeah, and wear kevlar just in case. In broad daylight. One hour limit.

Who Are You Gonna Believe?

"Straight Talk" John McCain, or your own lying eyes? Digby has the exchange here. Money quotes from McCain:

"There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today."

And from CNN correspondent Michael Ware (who's actually in Baghdad):

"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 and he and I can go for a stroll."

Between this and the condom fiasco, I think McCain's Straight Talk Express has been revealed to anyone who cares to look as a total sham.