In what Congress-watchers call a "stunning breakthrough," the powerful National Rife Association and Senior Democrats on Capitol Hill have cut a deal that will strengthen background checks on those buying firearms.
The war effort in Iraq has become so desperate that U.S. soldiers now fight alongside insurgents who have attacked and killed Americans in the past.
As one intelligence officer puts it: "We have made a deal with the devil."
And while some American soldiers call the uneasy alliance "encouraging" others wonder if this "deal with the devil" will become just another blunder in a war of blunders.