Turns out taking an afternoon waltz through the streets of Baghdad isn't as easy as John McCain would have you believe. On last night's edition of 60 Minutes, McCain—who has pegged his White House aspirations to the success of America's military campaign in Iraq—finally came clean about his highly criticized remarks about there being neighborhoods in Baghdad that are safe for Westerners to roam unarmed and unprotected. (Watch CNN reporter and seasoned Iraq war journo Michael Ware dismiss McCain's claims here.)

After 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley mentions that McCain was actually flanked by 22 soldiers, 10 armored Humvees, and two Apache attack helicopters on his own "unarmed" visit to a local bazaar (video above), the Republican presidential hopeful backtracks.

"I understand why they would provide me with that security but I can tell you if it had been two months ago and I'd asked to do it, they'd have said, 'Under no circumstances whatsoever.' I view that as a sign of progress." As for his previous contention that Army General David Petraeus often performs patrol duty in an unarmored Humvee, McCain explains, "There is no unarmored Humvee, obviously that's the case."

McCain, once the favorite for the Republican nod, is now behind former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; he also lags behind every other major candidate in fundraising.

Eight Americans were killed during his two-day stay in Iraq.