Bloody Wednesday: Guerrillas, Violence kill Nearly 300 Iraqis
By Juan Cole
Well I guess those Baghdad markets aren't as safe as Senator John McCain thought. And, they look remarkably unlike small town Indiana this morning, contrary to what Congressman Mike Pence alleged a couple of weeks ago.

The thing about reality and politics is that sooner or later, reality outstrips rhetoric, and then the politics is revealed for the lie it is. The silly allegation that the guerrillas are only artificially making it look like the surge is falling is another piece of fluffy illogic. Define "success" for the surge, and then measure reality against it. You could say that it is still early to make a judgment. You can't say that there is no evidence after 6 weeks for whether progress is being made. In that regard, the answer is clearly a resounding "No."

Nearly 300 persons were killed or found dead in Iraq on Wednesday and hundreds were wounded. Al-Hayat writes in Arabic that the smell of blood and gunpowder wafted through Baghdad on Wednesday In the capital alone, Sunni Arab guerrillas carried out five horrific bombings in Shiite neighborhoods that, with some mortar attacks and shootings, killed around 200 persons and wounded many more. LINK