So how is Iraq doing?

US casualty rate higher than ever.

U.S. forces have pulled out of large sections of the country leaving it in rebel hands.

The newly trained Iraq Army has been plagued by large numbers of deserters every time it has been called upon to fight.

Oil pipelines bombed every week.

The pro-western Iraqi bloggers I read believe the best solution is for the U.S. to pull out now.

I called one of my friends at Najaf today, Dr. Haidar, and he was telling me how catastrophic the situation in the city is. He said that the number of CIVILIANS killed is 950, and another 1570 were injured which is more than 5 times the number of Iraqis killed and injured in Najaf during the 2003 war.

We’re waiting again for some sort of condemnation. I, personally, never had faith in the American selected proxy government currently pretending to be in power- but for some reason, I keep thinking that any day now- any moment- one of the Puppets, Allawi for example, will make an appearance on television and condemn all the killing. One of them will get in front of a camera and announce his resignation or at the very least, his utter disgust, at the bombing, the burning and the killing of hundreds of Iraqis and call for an end to it… it’s a foolish hope, I know.

The Marines have given up and disbanded the last Iraq militia we trained. They believe they were helping the insurgents.

el - as an experiment, I typed all the headlines and then went searching for links. I see Riverbend is getting too discouraged and miserable to post much.

In my reading today I came across this in the New York Times.

How Many Deaths Will It Take?
President Bush hasn't spoken candidly about Iraq. The troops who are fighting and dying deserve better.