For John (The Surge Is Working!) McCain

From McKlatchy, a list of violent incidents in Iraq on Monday February 11, 2008:

Baghdad

- Around 8:30 a.m. a roadside bomb targeted a civilian car in Al Mashtal area, killing one civilian and injuring two others.

- Around 9 a.m. a roadside bomb exploded near Al Mansour fuel station injuring two people.

- Around 11:55 a car bomb exploded near tribal sheikh Ali Hatem's office in Arasat area. About noon another car bomb targeted police patrols heading to the first car bomb site in Al Hurriya intersection exploded, 11 people were killed and 30 others were injured and Hatem was injured also in the bombing.

- Around 6 p.m. a parked car bomb near a police station in Dora neighborhood, injured three civilians and two police officers.

- Police found three bodies throughout Baghdad, one in Fidhiliyah, 1 in Obeidi and one in Tobchi.

Diyala

- Gunmen kidnapped Dr. Ahmad Al Jubouri in Muqdadiyah.

- Gunmen attacked an Iraqi army patrol in Muqdadiyah, three gunmen were killed.

Nineveh

- Mortar shells slammed into Al Zinjeli area in Mosul, injuring two residents.

- Gunmen attacked an Iraqi army convoy in Al Nahrawan area in Mosul, three gunmen were killed in the attack and one soldier was injured.

- A roadside bomb targeted a U.S. military convoy in Al Wahda neighborhood, injuring a woman and a child were near the bomb site.

- Gunmen attacked and injured one man near Mosul.

Babil

- A bomb placed in a neighborhood representative (Mukhtar) office in Hilla exploded yesterday, injuring four people.

Basra

- Gunmen kidnapped a foreign journalist and his translator Sunday night. An Iraqi police captain identified the kidnapped to be a journalist who works for CBS news and said the gunmen using two civilian cars kidnapped the two men near Qasr Al Sultan hotel in Basra.

Thanks to Juan Cole at Informed Comment for the tip.

Yes, the numbers of incidents of violence are down in Iraq, but how long can our military hold up our end of the surge?

From CBS4 Denver:

By Erin Emery, Denver Post

FORT CARSON, Colo. (AP) ― A Fort Carson soldier who says he was in treatment at Cedar Springs Hospital for bipolar disorder and alcohol abuse was released early and ordered to deploy to the Middle East with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team.

The 28-year-old specialist spent 31 days in Kuwait and was returned to Fort Carson on Dec. 31 after health care professionals in Kuwait concurred that his symptoms met criteria for bipolar disorder and "some paranoia and possible homicidal tendencies," according to e-mails obtained by The Denver Post.

Oyster writes of the husband of an associate of his wife who is about to leave for his fifth deployment to Iraq.

Habakkuk 1:2-4

The Prophet’s Complaint

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not listen?
Or cry to you ‘Violence!’
and you will not save?
Why do you make me see wrongdoing
and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
So the law becomes slack
and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous—
therefore judgement comes forth perverted.

I know well that the war is not God's doing, but our doing, but, nevertheless, I cry out with Habakkuk.