News from Iraq...

We did not see this in American media:

"They’ve hit the Green Zone with rockets and mortars on six of the past seven days, killing one American soldier and necessitating helmets and body armor while outdoors for whatever reason within the embassy complex. There have been two major attacks on U.S. forts in Anbar since Wednesday, too: an assault by a pair of truck bombs and 30 jihadis armed with RPGs on the coalition post in Garma, and then yesterday a “complex” operation targeting the Fallujah government center that began with mortars and ended with two more truck bombs, this time packed with chlorine. Fifteen U.S. and Iraqi troops were injured in the blast; “numerous” others are being treated for chlorine inhalation." (emphasis mine)

This is from an Iraqi blogger here and not, obviously, the one that Bush quoted the other day.

So, how's the surge going?

...and from Iran

Everyone is trying to figure out why in the hell Iran captured 15 British sailors and Marines, and even more, why they are "humiliating them" by showing them on television eating dinner. Why do they not promptly release them? Speculation runs from trying to start a war with America, to an exchange for the Iranians that the U.S. is holding, to Iran just being nuts.

Maybe they just want to show the world that they, unlike the Unites States, allow their captives to wear their own clothing, remain unfettered, socialize, and communicate with their families at home. And they don't torture them.