So What Country Did Lindsey Really Visit?

Lindsey Graham: Escalation ‘Is Working Beyond My Expectations’

“The military part of the surge is working beyond my expectations,” Graham said. “We literally have the enemy on the run. The Sunni part of Iraq has really rejected al-Qaida all over the country. We’re getting more information about al-Qaida operations than we’ve ever received.”

Really Now?
Bombers Kill Dozens North of Baghdad

BAGHDAD, July 7 — Suicide bombers killed dozens of people in two attacks north of Baghdad on Saturday, raising questions about whether insurgents who have fled intense military operations in Baghdad and Diyala are turning to more vulnerable targets nearby.

In the worst blast, a truck loaded with explosives demolished dozens of fragile clay-built houses and shops in Amerli, a village of poor Shiite Turkmen about 15 miles south of Tuz Khurmato. Iraqi police officials said the blast killed 105 people and wounded 210 more; wire services were reporting a lower number of dead, from 25 to 50.

Looks like the surge is not much more than "whack a mole" on steroids. Of course not everyone sees it like Graham, McCain and Lieberman.
A GOP discord on Bush's Iraq strategy
A growing number of Republican lawmakers are dissenting from the administration and urging for a change of course.

WASHINGTON — Wearied by the lack of progress in Iraq and by the steady stream of military funerals back home, a growing number of Republican lawmakers who had stood loyally with President Bush are insisting his strategy has failed and are calling on him to bring the war to an end.

In the last two weeks, three GOP senators — including one of the party's leading voices on foreign affairs and one of Bush's strongest allies — have urged the president to change course now so U.S. troops can start to withdraw.

And Friday, in interviews with the Los Angeles Times, two more Senate Republicans bluntly voiced disappointment with the president's approach and pressed for change.

"It should be clear to the president that there needs to be a new strategy," said Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. "Our policy in Iraq is drifting."

Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, who helped lead the charge earlier this year against Democratic efforts to oppose Bush's troop buildup, said: "We don't seem to be making a lot of progress."

It is vital to have "a clear blueprint for how we were going to draw down," he said.

And this won't help.

In other violence, the U.S. military reported eight of its soldiers were killed in the past two days, mostly in and around Baghdad.

So here is the latest on how well the surge is going.

BAGHDAD - Two U.S. soldiers killed by a roadside bomb while on foot patrol south of Baghdad on Friday, the military said, taking to eight the total number killed in Iraq in the last two days.

BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber killed five Iraqi soldiers and one civilian by a checkpoint in east Baghdad, police said.

KIRKUK - Six policemen wounded by a pair of roadside bombs near Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

TUZ KHURMATO - A truck bomb at a crowded outdoor market killed 30 people in the northern town of Tuz Khurmato, 70 km (45 miles) south of Kirkuk, police said. Ninety people were wounded.

BASRA - One British soldier was killed in the southern Iraqi city of Basra overnight Friday during the largest operation by British forces in the country this year, the military said.

GARGHOUSH - A suicide car bomber killed 22 people and wounded 17 on Friday in an attack on Shi'ite Kurds in Garghoush, a village near the Iranian border, a local official said.

DIWANIYA - Six militia loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr were killed in clashes with U.S. soldiers in the southern city of Diwaniya, a Sadr source in the city said.

SAMAWA - Seven people killed in clashes since Thursday in the southern city of Samawa between Iraqi security forces and Sadr's militia, police said. Fifty five people were wounded.

BAGHDAD - A family of seven was killed by a mortar in central Baghdad overnight Friday as they slept on their roof, police said.

KIRKUK - Four civilians were wounded by a roadside bomb in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

RAMADI - A Saudi man was detained while trying to carry out a suicide bomb attack in a truck carrying canisters of chloride in the western Sunni city of Ramadi on Friday, police said.

BAGHDAD - Five bodies were found abandoned in different parts of the Baghdad on Friday, police said.

BAGHDAD - Two civilians were wounded by a mortar attack in the central Baghdad district of Karradat Mariam, police said.

BAGHDAD - One person was killed by a roadside bomb in the southern Baghdad neighbourhood of Zaafaraniya and two were wounded, police said.

MOSUL - An Iraqi police lieutenant was killed and another officer wounded when a hand grenade was thrown at their car in the restive northern city of Mosul, police said.

KHAN BANI SAAD - U.S. forces killed four militants as they targeted al Qaeda insurgents in the town of Khan Bani Saad, north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

So what country did you really visit Mr Graham?