European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 12, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday april 12 2007 stars and stripes o Page is opinion the us ont k peacekeeping forever sowenkpa5mowof wands for some Unity Mccain pandered to deflectors of Iraq facts by Paul f Campos last week sen John Mccain staged a truly orwellian publicity stunt in a Baghdad Market in a desperate attempt to give some Sliver of Cre Dence to claims that the dreaded Liberal Media Are failing to report on All the wonderful things happening in Iraq Mccain took a Brief walk outside the american main trained fortress that is Baghdad Green zone afterwards Mccain declared his walk through the Market was a sign that Security had improved significantly in the iraqi Capi Tal and the administrations current troop escalation is working what he didst mention was that during his Short stroll he was accompanied by dozens of heavily armed troops and several armoured vehicles while a couple of attack helicopters hovered Over head Mccain photo of which included the spectacle of the elderly senator wearing a flak jacket was ludicrous on so Many Levels that even the normally docile National press which has always treated Mccain with kid gloves pointed out he was making a fool of himself chastened Mccain issued a halfhearted apology a few Days later saying he mis spoke when he pointed to his Little walk under the Protection of several platoons from the worlds most powerful military As evidence of Baghdad excellent shopping opportunities the most interesting question raised by Mccain pathetic stunt is Why this genuine War hero who after All knows far better than most politicians the difference Between real courage and the made fort kind thought he could get away with it the answer can be found by taking a ran Dom stroll through the archives of the very Media Mccain was trying to manipulate from the first Days of the Iraq War it has been an article of dogmatic Faith among the movement conservatives Mccain is trying to woo that the Liberal Media have Given Ameri cans a Farto Bleak picture of whats Hap pening in Iraq Here Are just a few examples out of literally hundreds in september 2003 former Clinton advise turned righting Media pundit Dick Morris declared that the in credibly biased Liberal Media were claim ing that Iraq is a quagmire and that there Arent any weapons of mass and that Bush lied and All the while thanks to Fox news Are seeing with their own eyes How much this is crazy a year later syndicated columnist and Bush administration stenographer Mark Steyn announced that the Liberal Media were doing their Best to hide the fact that the Glass in Iraq is about two thirds full the bulk of the violence is confined to one province and parts of Baghdad there is no civil and last april president Bush himself took the Media to task the kind of Progress that we and the iraqi people Are making in places like Tal afar is not easy to capture in a Short clip on the evening he said footage of children playing or shops open ing and people resuming their Normal lives will never be As dramatic As the footage of an red explosion or the destruction of a mosque or soldiers and civilians being killed or two weeks ago almost exactly a year to the Day after Bush uttered these words Tal afar was the site of a particularly horrible massacre in which 70 men and boys were lynched some of the murder ers were members of the towns police Over the past four years its become Clear that when it comes to Iraq perhaps a Quarter of americans Are equipped with skulls that can successfully deflect almost Allun pleasant facts these people will account for the majority of the votes cast in next years Republican primaries hence Mccain extraordinarily Well armed stroll heres another unpleasant fact the Day after Mccain photo of 21 people from that same Market were kidnapped taken North of the City and murdered Scripps Howard columnist Paul f Campos is a Law professor at the University of Colorado Media crossed a line by blasting Mccain j Lopez a positive attitude cant win a War but it helps instead defeatism reigns supreme Here at Home no where is the inherently negative criticism of the War More evident than in the recent attacks on sen John Mccain one of the Ini tial backers of the coalition troop surge in Iraq now i am one of the last people who wants to whine about the Liberal its a Boring complaint one that begs readers to skip the rest of the column but also its not entirely True and produces few fruitful discussions fact is there Are some Brave and honest people from both parties reporting from War zones and they deserve respect and an audience As their jobs share an amount of danger Akin to the jobs of the servicemen Bers on whom they Are reporting but said reporters should not let their bravery blur the distinction Between the facts and their opinions inns Michael Ware went overboard recently when he vented Nair about former Vietnam prisoner of War Mccain question ing his credibility in an angry rant Ware told situation room Host Wolf Blitzer Well id certainly like to bring sen Mccain up to Speed if he Ever gives me the Opportunity and if i have any difficulty hearing you right now Wolf that be cause of the helicopter circling overhead and the gun Battle that is blazing just a few blocks Down the Ware a supposedly objective reporter added i mean sen Mccain credibility now on Iraq which has been so solid to this Point has now been left out hanging to dry to suggest that theres any neighbourhood in this City where an american can walk freely is beyond ludicrous id love sen Mccain to Tell me where that neighbor Hood is and he and i can go for a Mccain was to be in Baghdad the follow ing week but Ware dismissed Mccain congressional delegation essentially Call ing it smoke and mirrors for the american people what precipitated wares anger at the senator Mccain speaking from the United states at the time had insisted the surge was making Progress not Chang ing the face of Iraq but showing con Crete signs of Progress my own instinct was to worry that Mccain overstated his Case when he said on Bill Bennetts morn Curt Cashour p Arizona sen John Mccain left who is seeking the Republican 2008 presidential nomination talks with it Gen Ray Odierno commander of multinational corp Iraq on april 2 in ramada Iraq ing radio program there Are neighbor hoods in Iraq that Are Safe to walk through the very statement mat so enraged Ware but just because Good news is coming from a Region currently and Mersed in tragedy Doest diminish the Cre Dence of those facts and though i hesitate to question Ware who on the ground in Iraq the truth i suspect is most Likely closer to what one Marine told w Thomas Smith from National review online its not All doom and gloom Here there Are some Good progressive things happening which Are rarely reported and i will explain in the com ing Days but there also Are a lot of bad things happening that dont make the nightly a delicate mix of both Good and bad is the reality of the ongoing surge in Iraq Media politicians and citizens must now recognize the few truths Good or bad we receive from Baghdad and Stop the uninformed partisan fingerprinting Kathryn j Lopez is National review online editor prickly City by Scott Stantis  o kn3wwhze it