Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking: "Another one?" But this one really is a Clusterfuck--work with me here. From McClatchy, a little detail about life in the Imperial City:

On May 3, the embassy warned Green Zone residents to keep outdoor travel to a minimum and "remain within a hardened structure to the maximum extent possible and strictly avoid congregating outdoors." The message ordered individuals "whose place of duty is outside a hardened structure or traveling a substantial distance outdoors" to wear bulletproof vests and helmets "until further notice."

Congregating in one place? Why would that be a problem?

Clusterfuck is, in fact, a term of art in the Marine Corps:

A clusterfuck was any group of Marines big enough to draw enemy fire, or several Marines close enough together to be wounded by the same incoming round. Whenever three or more CAP Marines gathered in the open, talking or working on something, somebody was sure to call out "clusterfuck!" and one or more guys would walk away

And that, my friends, is why people in the Green Zone shouldn't "congregate in one place"--because they might get hit by more surge goodness in the form of an incoming mortar round or a rocket:

ast week, Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, told reporters in Washington after a visit here that conditions inside the zone were "infinitely worse" than she'd experienced during a visit last year.

"I was concerned then," she said. This year, however, she said that she stayed at a place where a rocket had landed a month ago and that another recent rocket attack had killed a woman not long before.

All of which brings up the second meaning of Clusterfuck:

More generically, a clusterfuck was something that was all screwed up, i.e. "That blocking operation was a giant clusterfuck!"

Which indeed the Green Zone is, as Olympia Snowe explained.

But in fact, the Green Zone isn't just an example of how the greatest strategic disaster in American history came to be. It's also a brutal exercise in raw Republican evil. Yes, evil.

Embassy employees have been ordered not to talk about security concerns or precautions with reporters, but three State Department employees in Baghdad discussed the issue with McClatchy Newspapers. All three asked not to be identified for fear that they'd lose their jobs.

The officials also complained that important security precautions appeared to have been set aside during highly publicized official visits. During a March 31 visit from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a high-profile presidential candidate, the embassy lifted a requirement that bulletproof vests and helmets be worn at all times. When a rocket landed outside the U.S. Embassy while Vice President Dick Cheney and several reporters visited last week, no warning sirens were sounded.

"Where were the sirens then?" one official asked. "We don't belong here, and people are afraid to say it."

What kind of people turn off air-raid sirens and risk people's lives for a photo-op?

Republicans, that's who.

"I can't sleep, I can't eat," another official said. "My life should be worth more than achieving this government's agenda."

One of the U.S. officials expressed anger that embassy employees were told not to talk to reporters.

"They want to say everything is fine. But if I'm asked I'm not going to lie," he said. "It's my life and it would be my grave and it would be my body flying back to my family."

Bingo. If a Republican feels you're standing in the way of the Leader's agenda, then it's OK for you to die--presumably God wants it that way.

Evil is a strong word. But for this behavior, it's also the right word.