Horrific violence and death as a result of battles between American troops and fighters loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr.
"The floor of the hospital is covered with the blood of children," said Dr Qasim al-Mudalla, manager of the Imam Ali hospital in Sadr City, where he said four children and two women were among 11 dead bodies brought in on Wednesday.
"What is the world doing? They have seen the blood of our children and are doing nothing."
Back in congress, Republicans and Democrats debate the fine points of "the surge." Petraeus and Crocker finesse the statistics and speak in abstract terms about how we are succeeding. Meanwhile the daily drumbeat of death and misery continues unabated as it has since the war started. Our congresspeople praise Petraeus's and Crocker's service as they repeatedly lie about the state of this war to the American public. When will members of Congress step up and tell the truth - the war is a moral outrage. We have sent our children to kill other people's children. There is plenty of concern about our troops and their hardships as there well should be. Where is the outrage and concern for the suffering of the Iraqi people? Today, I'm ashamed to be an American. End the war now.