Massacre to Preserve Ego

John McCain's little Sunday stroll would be more hilarious if it didn't get 21 Iraqis killed.

The latest massacre of Iraqi children came as 21 Shia market workers were ambushed, bound and shot dead north of the capital. The victims came from the Baghdad market visited the previous day by John McCain, the US presidential candidate, who said that an American security plan in the capital was starting to show signs of progress.

I was thinking today that the new McCain plan for Iraq should be for him to walk the country, as the markets are never more secure when he is in them. But apparently the next day there would be mass carnage in his wake, so that's not much of an idea.

Let's understand this: John McCain used a market in Baghdad as a campaign prop to prove to his supporters back home that Iraq is a winderful and secure place. Insurgents see this and retaliate by killing 21 innocent people. It is not at all a stretch to suggest that McCain got those people killed for the service of his ego and his political needs. They're all practically a human sacrifice.

If ever a Republican were capable of shame, it ought to be John McCain. Every dime gained in this new fundraising strategy of his should be handed over to those victims' families, as reparations for what he did to shatter their lives.