The surge is working, except for the deaths.

Ø Lest we swayed by reports from the administration that the surge is working, the news out of Iraq is still bleak. LA Times calls Sunday "Iraq's most violent day in weeks" reporting at least 20 deaths.

A convoy of American soldiers opened fire on unarmed motorists in Samawah in an unprovoked attack that, according to the US military, killed two civilians. The US soldiers also set fire to a truckload of sheep in the incident, killing all of the animals.

After the Samawah shooting, Muthanna Gov. Ahmed Marzouq said he couldn't understand the behavior of the U.S. forces who, he said, acted inhumanely in firing on motorists who posed no threat and setting the truck of sheep ablaze. He said the troops had entered without notifying local officials, violating protocols laid down when the southern province took over responsibility for its own security in July 2006.

In Baqubah... three U.S. soldiers were killed Sunday in an assault involving a suicide vest, the military said.

In another incident, a roadside bomb in Baqubah killed three children.

In Baghdad, a car bomb killed 10 bystanders.

Ø Contrast this information with an excerpt from today's delusional resignation letter from White House Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend to the president:

In 1937, the playwright Maxwell Anderson wrote of President George Washington: There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on higher ground in their lifetime.

Mr. President, you are such man.