Today was the deadliest day since security sweeps began in Baghdad. It’s very interesting to see the US and Prime Minister al-Maliki turn something this deadly into a sign of good fortune. Al-Maliki says the blasts, which also left more than 139 injured, were a sign of desperation that “confirm the defeat” and failure of terrorists. I must be all mixed up. I thought massive bombings were a bad thing for us, confirming the success of terrorists. Sounds a bit like Cheney’s famous 2005 prediction when he declared that the level of violence we were witnessing were “the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency”.

Militants struck back Sunday in their first major blow against a U.S.-led security clampdown in Baghdad with car bombings that killed at least 63 people, left scores injured and sent a grim message to officials boasting that extremist factions were on the run.

The attacks in mostly Shiite areas - twin explosions in an open-air market that claimed 62 lives and a third blast that killed one - were a sobering reminder of the challenges confronting any effort to rattle the well-armed and well-hidden insurgents.

Instead, it was the Iraqi commanders of the security sweep feeling the sting.

Just a few hours before the blasts, Lt. Gen. Abboud Qanbar led reporters on a tour of the neighborhood near the marketplace that was attacked and promised to “chase the terrorists out of Baghdad.” On Saturday, the Iraqi spokesman for the plan, Brig. Gen. Qassim Moussawi, said violence had plummeted by 80 percent in the capital.

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