(Leila Fadel/MCT) Hey, Joe---how's that helmet and flak vest working out for you?

The night before, 30 other soldiers crowded around him with questions for the senator. He wrote them all down. At the top of his note card was the question he got from nearly every one of his fellow soldiers: "When are we going to get out of here?"

The rest was a laundry list. When would they have upgraded Humvees that could withstand the armor-penetrating weapons that U.S. officials claim are from Iran? When could they have body armor that was better in hot weather?---

Then Lieberman walked in, wearing a pair of sunglasses newly purchased from an Iraqi market that the military had taken him to in southeast Baghdad. He'd been equipped with a helmet and flak vest when he toured the market, which he described as bustling.

It was unclear if they ever asked their questions. "It's like everything else in this war," Adams said, referring to Baghdad. "It hasn't changed." ...read on (h/t Id)