Biden in Iraq

Nothing much to say, frankly; the pool reports from the correspondents traveling with Biden haven't been that newsworthy. He was supposed to fly to Irbil today to meet with Kurdish leaders, but the trip was canceled because of sandstorms.

The one interesting point is what he said yesterday to Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki.

But in private, officials said, Mr. Biden's tone was more direct. One official said the vice president made it clear that if Iraq returned to ethnic violence, the United States would be unlikely to remain engaged, "because one, the American people would have no interest in doing that, and as he put it, neither would he or the president."

That was a notable statement given the real concerns about a slide back into sectarian violence. And personally I think the Obama administration is making the right choice; breaking the SOFA and sending troops back to Iraqi cities would do far more harm than good.