Reading The Pictures: <em> What Got Lost In The McCain Firestorm </em>

What got lost in the controversy over John McCain's self-inflicted wound -- involving his need for half the U.S. military to safeguard his visit to a Baghdad market -- was McCain's motive for going there in the first place.

According to military PR, McCain's intention was to "visit the Shorga marketplace and interact with local merchants." With all that protection, however, why can't we tell if he even interacted with any?

Surveying every photo available from the photo op, not one picture (out of about a half-a-dozen on the newswire) shows McCain in that market personally interacting with an Iraqi -- merchant or otherwise.

That leaves one of two possibilities. One, McCain didn't talk to any merchants (which is hard to believe, given his intentions). Or two, the military photographer (who provided sole coverage) was so caught up with the propaganda mission (and/or so nervous himself), he didn't bother to document (or the military failed to circulate) images of McCain interacting with the locals.

Either way, the omission is telling ... and despicable.

In this case, the Iraqis -- who American politician's are continually speaking of and speaking for; who were the sole focus of McCain's excursion; and who had all the American protection in the world ... for at least half-an-hour -- basically failed to register.

For more of the visual, visit BAGnewsNotes.com.

(image: Sgt. Matthew Roe, US Army/10th Public Affairs Operations Center/Handout/AP via YahooNews. Baghdad. April 1, 2007. )