Bad day for Iraqi government, as violence and political "divorce" follow their August vacation.

A day after Vice President Dick Cheney announced on CNN's Larry King Live that the "surge" is working, and a day or so after the normally Liberal New York Times surprisingly concluded the Iraqi war "a war we might win", and a day after Adm. Michael Mullen, President Bush's nominee to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate panel Tuesday that the war in Iraq is taking a heavy toll on American forces that are "not unbreakable" suggesting a need to "plan for an eventual drawdown", while warning that the Iraqi government needed to take advantage of the "breathing space" U.S. forces are providing because "no amount of troops in no amount of time will make much of a difference," and, about 45 days before General Petraeus is expected to issue his FINAL report on the "surge", violence and a political "divorce" mar Iraqi Legislators August vacation and spell doom for US efforts there.

Today two car bomb attacks killed at least 50 people in Mansour while wounding 60 others. In Karrada, in central Baghdad, at least 20 people were killed and 32 others injured. Four American troops had also been killed in two separate incidents.

But the most pressing news, albeit political, is that Iraq's largest Sunni Arab group of Lawmakers formally withdrew from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government. This move deals a major blow to Maliki's efforts to build a cohesive government - a NECESSARY component of a politically stable Iraq.

So unless Al-Maliki can form a cohesive coalition for an Iraqi government and unless the ubiquitous violence can be halted or greatly arrested, General Petreaus may not have very comforting news for us come September 15th.