Welcome to Baghdad

Hours ago, correspondent Jake Tapper arrived in our Baghdad bureau. He blogs about his initial impressions: It seems like the media in general have decided that the major crisis Iraq seemed headed towards last week — sectarian bloodshed careening precipitously towards civil war — has been averted. It sure doesn’t feel that way here. We just heard word that of a sixth bombing today — in addition to two car bombs, one suicide bomber, and a mortar in Baghdad, as well as an explosion that damaged Saddam Hussein’s father’s tomb in Tikrit. (That does not include the nine dead shooting victims found North of Baghdad today, or the two British soldiers killed South of here, in Al-Amarah.) I suppose when I’m back in the states, I’m able to tune this sort of thing out. And I confess, I occasionally do. Obviously that’s not the case here. [MORE]