Casey in Middle East

For his Fourth of July recess, it appears Sen. Bob Casey has chosen the only possible destination hotter than 102-degree D.C. -- the Middle East. He made an Independence Day swing through Kuwait to meet with troops, then onto Baghdad. There he met with Vice President Joseph R. Biden, who spent three days in Iraq, to discuss the security situation in the country. Casey also had meetings with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Iyad Allawi, the leaders of the nation's competing political blocs.

Casey, the chairman of the Foreign Relations subcommittee that has jurisdiction over the region, will be hopping around a bit more, but his schedule is not released in advance for security reasons. Expect a fuller retelling of his travels later in the week, but for now we wanted to post this mostly because of how devious Biden looks in the above photo (also pictured: Casey and Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Ted Kaufman, D-Del.)