The military commanders in Mahmudiyah, one of the handful of cities that make up the infamous "triangle of death" south of Baghdad, say the region doesn't deserve its name anymore. In fact, I just got back from a three-day embed in which US and Iraqi troops went on an air assault mission honing in on Shiite militants -- not the Sunni extremists that gave the region its name. Sunni troublemakers still exist, however, and the violence is far from over, though perhaps subdued.

I'm pretty tired, but glad I went. After my first embed, I knew I wanted to do at least one more embed before leaving, and this one was worth it. The soldiers even put me up in the colonel's quarters, since he was gone. No cot-in-a-tent sleeping for me. I'll blog more about it soon. For now, I'm happy to report that I picked up a six-pack of Easy Mac from the Green Zone PX earlier this week, and broke it in tonight. It had been over a month since I had eaten macaronni and cheese, something few people who know me thought was possible.