John McCain goes to Iraq

Yes, he's made another visit there, and while the press may refer to it as a "surprise visit," nothing could be further from the truth. He's been hinting at this for a couple of weeks now, and he finally made good on it:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain arrived in Iraq on Sunday to assess improved security attributed to a build-up of 30,000 extra troops of which he has been a strong supporter.

McCain arrived in Baghdad and was due to meet Iraqi government leaders and U.S. officials in the heavily fortified "Green Zone" diplomatic and government compound, U.S. embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said.

"I can confirm he did arrive," Nantongo said.

Attacks across Iraq have fallen by 60 percent since last June, when extra troops were fully deployed. There has been a fall in violence since January but U.S. commanders in Iraq say this does not represent a trend.

McCain is making his eighth visit to Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in March 2003.

Why go? Well, as the report says, he's there to see how the efforts are going with regard to the surge and the Iraqi government's attempts to enact the legislation President Bush has been pushing them on for months. General Petraeus is slated to give another status report in April, and McCain wants to make sure everything is on the up and up. Furthermore, we're sure that he'd like to add a tad bit of pressure to the Maliki/Talabani government in reminding them that he's the only friend they're likely to have.

Barack Obama has promised to withdraw troops immediately.

Hillary Clinton has said she will stagger the drawdown, but be "done" by 2009.

John McCain is the only candidate that is willing to stay to make sure the job is done and done right.

That should send a resounding message to the Iraqi government, and we're sure that's what part of the intention of this trip actually is. The rest, like the report says, is to see how things are going. One can read and listen to reports all day long, but seeing is believing and seeing is knowing. McCain wants to know, not have vague ideas. Besides this is his eighth trip there. What better point to make to the nation than that when running for the position of commander-in-chief? Can Hillary say the same? Can Obama? Neither can. When it comes to this point int he election and in the debates, McCain can shut them both down because he does know. He's been there when times were good, and he's been there when all Hell seemed to breaking loose. Neither of the other two had a desire to go. (This is likely due to a fear that they'd be tied to a war their party suddenly seems to disagree with.)

The other benefit that comes out of this is that it forces the press to cover Iraq, which is something they've been neglecting since the surge showed it's success last year. The press hates having to cover Iraq now unless bad news happens. And for them, no matter how contrite and minor the bad news is, they'll rush to report it more likely than to report on good news. So as the press guys talk to McCain, you can be sure the senator will hype up the successes from the surge in Iraq, which is just going to make editors like Bill "Slander" Keller groan with discontent.

In the end this is much a chance to stick it to the other side as it is for him to reassure the Iraqis that we're staying until the job is done provided he wins the job. That, and a little pressure never hurt anyone. So why not kill two birds with one stone?

Publius II