72 Civilians, 2 American Soldiers Dead As McCain Looks Presidential

Baghdad...As Bush and Cheney's overlapping visits wound down, seemed only appropriate to report the day's death tolls in the war both claim is going well, as McCain trys to look Presidential.

In a stunningly bitter attack, a female suicide bomber blew herself up, killing 43 Shiite worshippers in the holy city of Karbala on Monday, as McCain was taking advantage of a photo op with various assorted Iraq Government Officials...Cheney was resting. The attack left pools of blood on the street leading to one of Iraq's most revered mosques. McCain refused an offer to walk the streets even with a bullet proof vest and a massive security force flanking his side, even with the addition of six Black Hawks.

The suicide attack was the deadliest in a series of bloody attacks that left at least 72 Iraqi citizens dead on one day of McCain's visit, and many more injured. The deaths included six youths killed when mortar rounds slammed into a soccer field in eastern Baghdad outside the green zone.

In a bittersweet irony for the two aging War Hawks, two U.S. soldiers were killed Monday in a separate roadside bombing north of Baghdad. This brings the American military death toll close to 4,000 as the U.S. led war enters its sixth year, and McCain prepares for his Friday fund raiser in London at the Spencer House.