With Bush out of the country for his surprise visit to Iraq, it was a slow news day (apart from the trip itself, of course) :

In Baghdad, Bush Pledges Support to Iraqi Leader (WaPo)

President Bush told Iraq's prime minister and his cabinet Tuesday that "we'll keep our commitment" not to withdraw troops from the country until the new government is capable of defending itself.

During an unannounced visit to Baghdad aimed at buttressing the newly formed government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Bush pledged his support for the country's new leader and declared that "the fate of the Iraqi people is in their hands, and our job is to help them succeed."

Security Crackdown Begins in Baghdad (Lat)

American and Iraqi troops launched a large-scale security sweep in Baghdad this morning after a surprise 5 1/2 -hour visit to the Iraqi capital by President Bush on Tuesday.

Police and troops began installing checkpoints throughout the city and enforcing new security measures, including a weapons ban, as part of a crackdown intended to stem the blood bath in the capital.

The editorials from the Washington Post and New York Times on Bush's trip provide an interesting contrast:

A Boost From Mr. Bush (WaPo)

Too Soon to Cheer in Baghdad (NYT)

When it comes to Iraq (and the Bush Administration in general) the NYT editorial page has become utterly incapable of seeing anything as While no friend of the Bushies, good, or even potentially hopeful, news. They see sunshine and think skin cancer. While no friend of the Bushies, the Post can still recognize that it is in our national interest to achieve a favorable outcome in Iraq and is willing to celebrate postive developments along those lines when they occur.

The emerging story that most concerns me is this one:

A civil war looms between Palestinian factions, threatening U.S. interests in Iraq (LAT Ed)

AS PRESIDENT BUSH WAS PREPARING to pay a surprise visit to Iraq, where he arrived Tuesday and where the news lately has broken his way, U.S. interests were taking a beating on another front in the Middle East. Unhappily for the president, the bad news from the West Bank and Gaza — the site of the proposed Palestinian state that he envisions existing alongside Israel — is also bad news for the U.S. mission in Iraq.

With Fatah fighting Hamas, in part at least, over the question of "two-state solution" using the 1967 borders, perhaps this is the death rattle of the "death to Israel" school of Palestinian foreign policy. If so, that is all to the good. But it seems equally likely that what we are witnessing in both Iraq and Palestine is the beginning of the end of civil order in the Middle East. Given the sectarian enmities that so plague that poor, benighted and in some sense ridiculous part of the world, the genie of civil/sectarian war will be hard to get back in the bottle once fully loosed.

And finally (in both senses):

Rove Will Not Be Charged In CIA Leak Case, Lawyer Says (WaPo)