While the Senate played nukular chicken…

…things were somewhat more conventional in Iraq. If you didn't notice, Juan Cole did…

Car bombs and other attacks killed at least 49 Iraqis on Monday and left at least 130 wounded, according to AP. Four American troops have also been killed in the past two days.

(umm, make that 9 U.S. Soldiers Killed in 2 Days in Iraq. That's 1645 to date, no end in sight. 58 so far this month, the highest fatality rate in 4 months…damn.)