Four car bombs and a man with explosives strapped to his body killed at least 61 people and wounded more than 100 in three Iraqi cities Wednesday as hundreds of U.S. troops pushed through a lawless region near the Syrian frontier...

Juan Cole also asys: The continued US inability to protect members of the new governing elite has been an important roadblock to stability in the country.... The jihadis are making themselves martyrs in order to give other young men a reason to fight. It is a recruitment drive. Since guerrillas have managed to kill about 14 US troops in recent days, moreover, it is a way of signalling that the US is not 10 feet tall, but is rather vulnerable. If the US has this much trouble with about 2500 foreign fighters in Iraq (and over 20,000 Iraqi ones), imagine the problems if the jihadi recruitment drive succeeds, and the foreign contingent doubles or triples.

I emailed John Tierney to ask him if its ok to report on today's suicide bomber's. He said that he's waiting for Rudy to get back to him so he can get back to me.