Baghdad is under siege...

and John Kerry said something stupid. So you gotta know what gets the headlines. Anyway, read this article by Patrick Cockburn. Note this little tidbit:

One eyewitness in Balad said two US gunships had attacked Shia positions on Sunday killing 11 people and seriously wounding six more, several of whom lost legs and arms. He added that later two Iraqi regular army platoons turned up in Balad with little military equipment. When they were asked by locals why their arms were so poor "the reply was that they were under strict orders by the US commander from the [nearby] Taji camp not to intervene and they were stripped of their rocket-propelled grenade launchers".

If you can tell me what that explains about US military strategy in Iraq you get the Blog Simple brownie button, in electronic form. My only feeble explanation is: 'There is no strategy.'