More on Condi's
Noting the recent "upsurge" of violence in Iraq Rice said the Iraqis were taking the task of security on themselves:

Reuters

"Rice said the Iraqi government, which relies on the 138,000 U.S. troops and 23,000 coalition forces in Iraq to provide security, was trying to take on more of this itself.

She also cited the case of a badly wounded young woman who served in the Iraqi security forces protecting an Iraqi official and whom she met in a Baghdad hospital on Sunday.

"She basically threw herself in front of an IED," Rice said, using the U.S. military term for an improvised explosive device, or bomb. "That's Iraqis taking responsibility for their own security."

I'm speechless. What the hell is she talking about? That's "Iraqis taking responsibility for their own security?" Maybe, if they really were, this poor woman wouldn't have had to jump on an IED in the first place. Maybe, if Condi had been doing her job, Iraq wouldn't be in such a horrendous state.

Remember when Bush appointed her to lead the Iraq Stabilization Group back in October 2003?

The Center For American Progress lays out Condi's sorry tenure at the ISG:

"In October 2003, President Bush announced he was "giving his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, the authority to manage postwar Iraq." With great fanfare, Rice was appointed head of the "Iraq Stabilization Group," intended to coordinate committees on counterterrorism, economic development, political affairs and media messages. The purpose of the group, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan, was to "cut through the red tape and make sure that we're getting the assistance there quickly." But seven months later, the Washington Post reported, "the four original leaders of the Stabilization Group have taken on new roles, and only one remains concerned primarily with Iraq." Within the White House, the Post noted, "the destabilized Stabilization Group is a metaphor for an Iraq policy that is adrift." According to the White House website, the Iraq stabilization group hasn't been publicly mentioned for more than a year."

What happened? Oh I know, it was Syria right?

"We're going to go back and look again at what the neighbors can do -- particularly the Syrians -- to stop support for these foreign terrorists who we believe are gathering on Syrian soil and coming across," she told reporters as she flew home.

"Their unwillingness to deal with the crossings of their border into Iraq, is frustrating the will of the Iraqi people ... (and) killing innocent Iraqis."

Again I ask, what about the Saudis? Why don't you go back and look at them, Condi? What are they doing to stem the flow of hundreds of young Saudi men determined to blow themselves up for a bunch of virgins? The Syrians are probably having as much trouble controling their borders as every governmental entity has had in that area since Syrus the Great was running the show. How are doing in Husaybah (see below), by the way? Why aren't we able to control the borders? Where's Bernie Kerik when you need him?

Unfortunatly for Rice her "surprise" arrival in Iraq coincided with the discovery of mass graves all over the place filled with bodies of men killed execution style.

APAP

"Batches of bodies were found in various areas over the weekend, from a garbage-strewn vacant lot in Baghdad's Sadr City slum to a Latifiyah chicken farm south of the capital in a region dubbed the Triangle of Death.

A spokesman for al-Jaafari condemned the killings and said security forces were determined to catch those responsible."

It shouldn't be to hard, they may not have far to look. I heard, but haven't seen yet, a report on NPR this morning claiming that two men were found still alive and one of men's wife was quoted as saying he was taken away by Iraqi security forces on Sunday night. There's evidence these killings might have been done by the Iraqi police.

Condi, in her usual detached, dismissive way, said of the violence raging around her (and the entire army division that's protecting her),

"Yes, the levels of violence are still very high and it's in large part because the advent of the car bomb makes it possible with relatively few people to do great damage, and that is something that has to be addressed," Rice said."

How? When? And the "advent of the car bomb" came at the very beginning of the war.

NYT (April 11, 2003)

"Baghdad is scene of widening anarchy as jubilation accompanying collapse of Saddam Hussein's rule gives way to spree of violence and looting; suicide bombing attack on checkpoint manned by American marines leaves at least four of them severely injured..."

The real advent of the car bomb came on July 22, 1946, when Menachem Begin detonated a truck bomb at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which killed 92 people; if she wants to get really technical about it.

In any case, she's oblivious.

More victory news on Operation Matador.
(Doesn't "matador" mean murderer?)

"The international Red Cross...said it was trucking 36,000 gallons of fresh water a day to families displaced by recent fighting between American forces and Iraqi insurgents near Iraq's border with Syria."

BBC:

"Thousands of Iraqis have fled fighting between US troops and insurgents in the west of the country, aid workers say. The head of the Iraqi Red Crescent in the country told the BBC that about 1,000 families had been displaced from the border town of Qaim."