So how's it going in Baghdad?

While the world focuses on Israel, Lebanon, Mubai, Boston and New York, things are really not going very well in Baghdad. Some examples:

'Riverbend', who writes the Baghdad Burning blog, is desperate. The summer is going badly and all signs point to worse conditions. On top of everything, she lost a dear friend in a recent ethnic massacre. Any hope she had for the peacekeeping force doing good is gone:

Why don't the Americans just go home? They've done enough damage and we hear talk of how things will fall apart in Iraq if they 'cut and run', but the fact is that they aren't doing anything right now. How much worse can it get? People are being killed in the streets and in their own homes- what's being done about it? Nothing. It's convenient for them- Iraqis can kill each other and they can sit by and watch the bloodshed- unless they want to join in with murder and rape.
...while I always thought Baghdad was one of the more marvelous cities in the world, I'm finding it very difficult this moment to see any beauty in a city stained with the blood of T. and so many other innocents…

Even more discouraging, in The Times: Baghdad starts to collapse as its people flee a life of death.

A local journalist told me bitterly this week that Iraqis find it ironic that Saddam Hussein is on trial for killing 148 people 24 years ago, while militias loyal to political parties now in government kill that many people every few days. But it is not an irony that anyone here has time to laugh about. They are too busy packing their bags and wondering how they can get out alive.