More of the same with a surprise visit!

Well, gosh W. made a "surprise" visit to Baghdad today to look Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki in the eye. (I wonder if he felt his soul like he did with Vlad 'the impaler Putin'?) W.'s visit was such a surprise that the WaPo reports:

"Maliki learned of Bush's visit only after his Nighthawk helicopter had landed in the Green Zone following a six-minute ride from the airport, part of the extraordinary security measures associated with the trip." Now, that's the way to show the Iraqis you don't trust them enough not to let the cat out of the bag!

It's not like things are so completly out of control over there that the president of the United States can't even tell the democratic leader of "sovereign Iraq" he's coming for a visit or anything. I mean, public enemy number 1 Abu Mosab al-Zarqawi was killed last week, you'd think W. would have been doing a victory lap through Firdos Square or something.

AP reports that Maj. Gen. Mahdi al-Gharrawi, the commander of public order forces that al-Maliki was just about to start operation Iron Fist throughout Baghdad but that, "The terrorists will escalate their violence especially during the first week as revenge for the killing of al-Zarqawi." But I thought they were finished! Every time something comes up the damn insurgents start escalating again!