Nobody could have foreseen that the bad guys would move

The US military in Iraq heralds a new military operation --

Operation Lightning Hammer kicked off with a powerful barrage of artillery fires and air strikes on carefully selected targets in Diyala province, Iraq, Tuesday, sending al-Qaeda in Iraq a strong message that they have no safe haven there ... These forces combined with other units already conducting operation Lightning Hammer elsewhere in Diyala and Salah ad Din provinces, totaling approximately 10,000 Coalition Forces and 6,000 Iraqi Security Forces ... “Enemies of Iraq will not get a chance to rest or hide in Diyala Province,” said Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, deputy command general for operations

Well, they won't need to hide there, having been already making their way north of Diyala into the Kurdish region:

BAGHDAD - Four suicide bombers hit Kurdish Yazidi communities with nearly simultaneous attacks on Tuesday, killing at least 175 people and wounding 200 others, said Iraqi military and local officials in northwest Iraq.

The death toll was the highest in a concerted attack since Nov. 23, when 215 people were killed by mortar fire and five car bombs in Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City.

The bombs tore through the districts near Qahataniya, 75 miles west of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, said Abdul-Rahman al-Shimiri, the top government official in the area, and Iraq army Capt. Mohammed Ahmed.

Apparently when one decides to fight the terrorists in one specific place, they have the option of upping to somewhere else.

UPDATE: The US military is claiming a death toll of "only" 60. The attacks were in Nineveh province, very far from the focal points of the surge.

FINAL UPDATE: The attack, with at least 400 dead, is now the worst terrorist attack in the world since 9/11. These 400 people, along with tens of thousands of others, would still be alive with Saddam Hussein in charge.