reality-based educator

Deadly day in Iraq:

TUZ KHORMATO, Iraq - A string of suicide bombings killed at least 73 people and wounded dozens in Shiite villages north of Baghdad, including a large truck bombing Saturday that ripped through an outdoor market and buried victims in rubble, officials said.

The quick succession of blasts within hours of each other suggested that Sunni militants are regrouping to launch their deadliest form of attack — suicide explosions, often against Shiites — in regions further away from Baghdad, beyond the edges of a three-week old U.S. offensive on the capital’s northern flank.

The U.S. military on Saturday also reported that six American service members were killed in fighting in Baghdad and western Anbar province over two days, reflecting the increased U.S. death toll that has come with the new offensives.

Meanwhile, Huckleberry Graham (R-SC) says we're making great progress in Iraq and "have the enemy on the run":

WASHINGTON — While some Republican senators break with President Bush over Iraq, Sen. Lindsey Graham has returned from his seventh wartime visit there with renewed hope that the U.S. troop buildup is producing results.

...

"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."

Holy Joe Lieberman also said last week that the U.S. military surge has the enemy "on the run."

It seems the surge does have the enemy on the run - right out of Baghdad and into other areas of Iraq to kill, maim, and terrorize as per usual.

POSTSCRIPT: The death toll for U.S. military personnel stands at 3601 today.

UPDATE: Death toll in Iraq today is much higher than previously reported:

A deadly truck bombing in a busy market in northern Iraq has killed 105 people and injured 240, police say.

The morning blast destroyed the market in the small town of Amirli, south of Kirkuk, killing many people instantly and trapping dozens among the rubble.

It was the deadliest single attack in Iraq since April, correspondents say.

It came as 29 people were killed in separate violence, including 22 people who died overnight in Diyala province when a suicide bomber hit a cafe.

...

In other violence, police said a family of seven sleeping on a Baghdad roof died when a mortar hit the building.

The dead reportedly included a couple and their four children, aged nine to 17, as well as a relative.

Many Iraqis choose to spend hot summer nights sleeping on the roof of their home because of frequent electricity failures.

They can't get the fucking electricity grid to work, so people sleep on the roofs of their homes to try and stay cool. Then we can't keep the people sleeping on the roofs of their homes safe from mortar rounds. And of course just when the Bush administration and its allies like Lieberman, Graham and McCain start crowing about a decrease in violence (in this case, the recent decrease in large car bombs), the insurgents strike with impunity just to show how full of shit the Americans are.