ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- "Turkey's military on Tuesday claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties on Kurdish rebels in weekend airstrikes on northern Iraq but denied Iraqi reports that its troops had mounted a cross-border raid earlier in the day."

Well, the Secretary of State of the United States has to make a secret, unannounced visit to Kirkuk, where the leader of the Kurds refuses to meet with her. Ironically, she's there to talk about the political gains. Gains.

Meantime, the US has ceded southern Iraq including Basra and oil fields to whatever Shia faction wins that portion of the civil war. It's open season there as the British bail and the Iraqis take over. Kind of like before.

Problems in the north, problems in the south, and the US is concentrated in Baghdad, bragging about how the country is under control.

Arf