During a discussion on the March 11 edition of CNN's The Situation Room of Sen. John McCain's upcoming taxpayer-funded trip to Iraq, congressional correspondent Dana Bash noted that McCain claimed he wanted a “firsthand look at what's happening on the ground” and quoted from a statement about the trip in which McCain said, “Had I not traveled to Iraq, I doubt I would have been informed enough to understand what we were doing wrong and what we should do to correct our mistakes.” But Bash and host Wolf Blitzer did not report that just before and during a previous fact-finding trip to Iraq, McCain made misleading claims about the safety of Baghdad neighborhoods, which were widely criticized in the media -- including on CNN. Indeed, McCain later admitted that he had “missp[oken]” about the level of security in Baghdad in his pre-trip comments.

Additionally, Bash stated that “CNN asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [D-NV] about what he thinks about McCain's trip being taxpayer-funded. He responded by saying he doesn't think it's appropriate for members of Congress to go to Iraq, because he thinks it takes away from soldiers' duties.” Bash then aired a clip of Reid during a March 11 media availability session (retrieved from the Nexis database) stating, “my personal feeling is, I would rather those people trying to protect me were trying to protect other people. So, you know, that's an individual decision people have to make.” In the clip itself, Reid is not shown saying he “doesn't think it's appropriate for members of Congress to go to Iraq”; he is shown referring to himself, then saying that it is “an individual decision.” Moreover, in comments immediately before those, which CNN did not air, Reid also said that he was expressing his own view about whether he should go to Iraq, not others. He said: "[E]ach of those individual senators will have to make up their own mind. I would just tell you how I feel. People have asked me why haven't I been back to Iraq; this is my personal feeling, I'm only speaking for Harry Reid. When I went there, to Iraq, I just felt the people who are there protecting me should have been protecting other people." From the March 11 media availability with Reid, transcribed by Congressional Quarterly:

QUESTION: Senator McCain next week is leading a CODEL [congressional delegation] to the Middle East and to Europe with [Sen. Lindsey] Graham [R-SC] and [Sen. Joe] Lieberman [I-CT]. It's being paid for by taxpayer dollars, but there are obvious political overtones to the trip. Do you think it's appropriate for the American taxpayer to pay for that trip?

REID: Well, each of those individual senators will have to make up their own mind. I would just tell you how I feel. People have asked me why haven't I been back to Iraq; this is my personal feeling, I'm only speaking for Harry Reid. When I went there, to Iraq, I just felt the people who are there protecting me should have been protecting other people. We had helicopters moving around, we had numerous security people around me, and my personal feeling is, I would rather those people trying to protect me were trying to protect other people.

So, you know, that's an individual decision people have to make. I have the greatest respect for Senator McCain, Senator Graham and Senator Lieberman, but I just, myself, am more focused on the eight soldiers killed yesterday, the $12 billion we're spending every year, the $420 million we're spending every day. That's what I'm focused on. And my going to Iraq would not alleviate any of my feelings I have about what I just outlined.

Just days before his spring 2007 trip to Iraq, McCain told conservative radio host William Bennett that "[t]here are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today." When asked about those comments on the March 27, 2007, edition of The Situation Room, McCain told Blitzer: “General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in a non-armed Humvee.” Later during the program, Blitzer asked CNN correspondent Michael Ware if there's been “this improvement that Senator McCain is speaking about?” Ware replied that “none of the American generals here on the ground have anything like Senator McCain's confidence. I mean, Senator McCain's credibility now on Iraq, which has been so solid to this point, is now being left out hanging to dry. 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.” And after noting McCain's claim that Gen. Petraeus travels “almost every day in a non-armed Humvee,” Ware reported that “in the hour since Senator McCain has said this, I've spoken to some military sources and there was laughter down the line. I mean, certainly, the general travels in a Humvee. There's multiple Humvees around it, heavily armed. There's attack helicopters, Predator drones, sniper teams -- all sorts of layers of protection. So, no, Senator McCain is way off base on this one, Wolf.”

Then, on April 1, 2007, McCain, along with a Republican congressional delegation, visited an open-air Baghdad market and claimed that "[t]hings are better, and there are encouraging signs," citing as evidence that he has “been here many times over the years and never have I been able to drive from the airport and never have I been able to go out into the city as I was today.” But on the April 2, 2007, edition of CNN's American Morning, Ware asserted that the “fact that Senator McCain and a delegation can drive from the airport and walk around parts of Baghdad wrapped in a heavy security envelope is not new. Generals and American representatives have been doing such things throughout the war. Indeed, it's the old, reinvented as new. And is in no way a sign of the real progress of the surge, which the senators should be talking about.” Host Soledad O'Brien also noted that McCain was “wearing a bulletproof vest, and surrounded by heavy security.” Indeed, the Associated Press reported on April 1, 2007, that the Republican delegation to the Shorja market “was accompanied by heavily armed U.S. troops” and that "[t]hey traveled in armored military vehicles under heavy guard." Similarly, as the blog Think Progress noted, on the April 1 edition of NBC's Nightly News, NBC News correspondent Tom Aspell reported McCain's response to a question about his previous statement that he "could walk through" neighborhoods in Baghdad today: “Yeah, I just came from one.” Aspell then reported that McCain was heavily guarded during the trip to which he was apparently referring:

ASPELL: In Baghdad today, Senator John McCain said the American people were not getting an accurate view of what's happening here.

McCAIN: They're not getting the full picture of the drop in murders, the establishment of security outposts throughout the city, the situation in Anbar Province, the deployment of additional Iraqi brigades who are performing well.

ASPELL: McCain fielded a question about a statement he'd made last week.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You said there are areas in Baghdad that you can walk around freely.

McCAIN: Yeah, I just came from one.

ASPELL: He and his delegation had just spent an hour walking around an open-air market. The U.S. military, which provided stills pictures, told NBC News the market was a three-minute drive directly across the Tigris River from the Green Zone and that McCain's delegation was guarded by more than 100 American soldiers with three Black Hawk helicopters and two Apache gunships overhead.

The next day, on April 2, 2007, Reuters reported that "[t]he crack of shots fired by unseen snipers echoed on Monday through Baghdad's wholesale Shorja market, a day after U.S. Senator John McCain held up his visit there as one sign of improving security in Baghdad." Also, New York Times reporter Kirk Semple, in an April 3, 2007, article headlined “McCain Wrong on Iraq Security, Merchants Say,” wrote that "[a] day after members of an American Congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain pointed to their brief visit to Baghdad's central market as evidence that the new security plan for the city was working, the merchants there were incredulous about the Americans' conclusions [...] Shorja, the city's oldest and largest market, set in a sprawling labyrinth of narrow streets and alleyways, has been bombed at least a half-dozen times since last summer. At least 61 people were killed and many more wounded in a three-pronged attack there on Feb. 12 involving two vehicle bombs and a roadside bomb."

On the April 8, 2007, edition of CBS' 60 Minutes, when correspondent Scott Pelley asked McCain about saying “General Petraeus sometimes goes into Baghdad in an unarmored Humvee, and that there were neighborhoods you can walk though without being concerned for your safety,” McCain admitted: “There is no unarmored Humvee, obviously that's the case. ... Of course I'm going to misspeak and I've done it on numerous occasions and I probably will do in the future.”

From the March 11 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:

BLITZER: There are some new questions today for John McCain about his upcoming trip to the Middle East and Europe. It could help him politically, so should taxpayers be footing the bill? That -- those questions being raised by Senate Democratic leaders.

Also, will Barack Obama win Mississippi by a landslide?

[...]

BLITZER: John McCain is looking ahead to the fall, campaigning in the swing state of Missouri today, the all-but-certain Republican nominee also looking ahead to his trip to the Middle East and Europe. But he's getting some questions now about who should foot the bill. Dana Bash is picking up this part of the story for us.

This trip potentially could help McCain with his campaign. What's the -- what is the argument going back and forth?

BASH: That is really the issue, according to McCain senior advisers that we talked to about this last week, that they really are hoping that this trip that he's taking next week, that this shows him on the world stage and shows his ability to really deal with the world stage, while the Democrats back here are still battling out in their primary.

But, you know, this is something that is going to be an official Senate trip, which means it's gonna be paid for by taxpayers. Now, we asked Senator McCain about that today. He said he is going as the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

McCAIN [video clip]: I think it's very important that, as the ranking member, that I understand and keep up to date particularly where young Americans may be in harm's way. And I'm proud to serve. And I -- and I regret that more of my colleagues don't spend more time in foreign travel.

BASH: Now, McCain is going on this trip with two of his biggest campaign supporters, especially on the war, the Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat-turned-independent Joe Lieberman.

Now, CNN asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid about what he thinks about McCain's trip being taxpayer-funded. He responded by saying he doesn't think it's appropriate for members of Congress to go to Iraq, because he thinks it takes away from soldiers' duties.

REID [video clip]: We had helicopters moving around. We had numerous security people around me. And my personal feeling is, I would rather those people trying to protect me were trying to protect other people. So, you know, that's an individual decision people have to make. I have the greatest respect for Senator McCain, Senator Graham, and Senator Lieberman, but I just, myself, am more focused on the eight soldiers killed yesterday.

BLITZER: So, Dana, has the -- has Senator McCain responded to Senator Reid's latest comment?

BASH: He has, actually, through a spokeswoman. He gave us a statement. And what he said, responding to Senator Reid, was that he thinks it's critical for members of Congress, who are responsible for funding the war, to go to the ground and actually get a sense, a firsthand look at what's happening on the ground.

In fact, we have a statement, at least part of a long statement that Senator McCain gave CNN responding to Senator Reid. What he said is: “Had I not traveled to Iraq, I doubt I would have been informed enough to understand what we were doing wrong and what we should do to correct our mistakes.”

So it's very interesting, Wolf. This trip that Senator McCain is taking, along with two of his colleagues, is -- is turning out not so much to be, at least right now, today, a question of whether or not the taxpayers should be funding it -- after all, he is the presumptive Republican nominee -- but a question of, at least from Senator Reid's point of view, whether senators should be going to places like Iraq at all, whether that's a good idea.

BLITZER: A lot of Democratic senators have gone to Iraq, as we all know --

BASH: A lot.

BLITZER: -- including Senator Hillary Clinton on a few occasions.

BASH: Absolutely.

BLITZER: All right, Dana, thanks very much for that.

BASH: Thank you.