Having dropped into Iraq for a surprise visit Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney was in a good mood. Speaking at a press conference in Baghdad he held after a meeting with Iraqi leaders, Cheney told the assembled reporters, "If you look back on those five years it has been a difficult, challenging but nonetheless successful endeavor ... and it has been well worth the effort."

Also on Monday, a female suicide bomber blew herself up in a crowd of Shiite Iraqis at a mosque near Karbala. At least 32 people were killed and an additional 51 were wounded, according to one report. Four attacks in Baghdad killed a total of four people and wounded 13.

Cheney's visit comes just before the five-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Presumptive Republican presidential John McCain is also in the country, accompanied by fellow senators and supporters Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham. "The surge is working," McCain said in an interview with CNN.