Dick And John's Road Trip

Dick Cheney and John McCain both went to Iraq this weekend so they could demonstrate just how well the surge is working. Of course Iraq did not cooperate.
Cheney cites 'phenomenal' Iraqi security progress as bombing kills 40

BAGHDAD — Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday made a surprise visit to Baghdad, where he pledged that U.S. forces would "not quit before the job is done" and said that a massive troop buildup had achieved "phenomenal" improvements in security.

At sunset Monday, however, a female suicide bomber killed at least 40 people and injured more than 50 when she blew herself up in a crowded pedestrian area near a Shiite Muslim shrine in the southern holy city of Karbala, according to government and hospital officials. Among the victims were several Iranian pilgrims who'd come to worship at the Imam Hussein shrine, one of Islam's most sacred sites.

And the U.S. military announced the deaths of two soldiers who were killed Monday when their Humvee struck a roadside bomb north of Baghdad, bringing the number of American troop deaths to at least 3,990 since the war began.

Meanwhile St John made a taxpayer financed photo-op trip to Iraq but the surge is working so well he won't be visiting the market he put up as an example a year ago. Last year he visited the the open-air Shorja market, guarded by 100 US troops and three blackhawk helicopters. Not even that would be enough today as the market is controlled Sadr's Mahdi Army and is not considered safe for Americans.

And from the LA Times Garrett Therolf went to Iraq to find some feel good stories and couldn't find many and was once again forced to mostly report bad news.