It's January 2006 in Iraq...

Aren't the election results supposed to finally be announced shortly?

Though it hurts, I believe that his death -- and that of the other Americans who have died in Iraq -- was a waste. They were wasted in a belief that democracy would grow simply by removing a dictator -- a careless misunderstanding of what democracy requires. They were wasted by not sending enough troops to do the job needed in the resulting occupation -- a careless disregard for professional military counsel.

But their deaths will not be in vain if Americans stop hiding behind flag-draped hero masks and stop whispering their opposition to this war. Until then, the lives of other sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers and mothers may be wasted as well.

ROFFLE

"Sorry we ran you off the road and totaled your car. Here's a jump-start. My insurance information...HEY! WHAT'S THAT OVER THERE!"

I Broke It, I Bought It ... FOR YOU!

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 3 - United States warplanes dropped bombs on a home near Bayji Monday night that Iraqi officials said killed nine members of a family and wounded three more.

American military officials confirmed the attack today and said the bombs were dropped after an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft recorded three men planting a bomb next to a road about 9 p.m. After the men were tracked to a nearby building, United States warplanes bombed the structure with "precision guided munitions," the military said.

But enraged Iraqi officials in Bayji, about 150 miles north of Baghdad, said today the attack was unjustified and killed an innocent family. A preliminary investigation of the blast site indicated that the airstrike killed the wife of the home's owner, his daughter-in-law and seven other family members, including one son who worked for the police, said Maj. Muthanna al-Qaisi, a spokesman for the governor of the Saluhaddin province.

"The owner of the house is a very simple man," said Maj. Al-Qaisi. "The American forces did not provide us with any justification for the attack and the governor requires an investigation concerning this attack."

He said the governor would meet with American officials on Wednesday to seek an explanation.

As of mid-afternoon today, American officials were working to establish how many causalities were involved and who was killed. "We're now trying to determine in coordination with Iraqi security forces in the area exactly what casualties occurred, and why they occurred," said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman in Baghdad.

In a statement, the American military said the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft observed the three men "as they dug a hole following the common pattern of road-side bomb emplacement. The individuals were assessed as posing a threat to Iraqi civilians and coalition forces, and the location of the three men was relayed to close air support pilots."

"The individuals left the road site and were followed from the air to a nearby building," where they were bombed, the statement said. The statement did not say whether a roadside bomb was later found at the site.

Omar al-Neami contributed reporting for this article.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/01/05/national/05bush.xl.jpg

Look where it got him. Bush and Cheney used him to wipe their arses clean on WMD and then threw him away. I gave up on Powell. Whatever personal virtues he might have, he will always be somebody else's rag doll.

Iraq's Shia-led United Iraqi Alliance has won the country's parliamentary elections, but failed to obtain an absolute majority.

The alliance took 128 of the 275 seats - 10 short of an outright majority. Kurdish parties have 53 seats and the main Sunni Arab bloc 44.

The Shias will now be expected to form a coalition government.

A number of Sunni politicians have alleged fraud, and international observers criticised irregularities.

Those who do not accept the results will have two days to appeal before they are certified as definitive.

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ELECTION RESULTS
United Iraqi Alliance: 128 seats
Kurdistan Alliance: 53
Iraqi Accord Front (Sunni): 44
Iraqi National List (secular): 25
Iraqi Front for National Dialogue (Sunni): 11
Other parties: 14

Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer who wrote the report under a Pentagon contract, concluded the Army cannot sustain the pace of deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency. He also suggested that the Pentagon's decision to begin reducing the force in Iraq this year was driven in part by a realization that the Army was overextended.

As evidence, Krepinevich points to the Army's 2005 recruiting slump and its decision to offer much bigger enlistment bonuses and other incentives.

"You really begin to wonder just how much stress and strain there is on the Army, how much longer it can continue," he said. He added that the Army is still a highly effective fighting force and is implementing a plan that will expand the number of combat brigades.

The 136-page report represents a more sobering picture of the Army's condition than military officials offer in public. While it was not released publicly, a copy was provided in response to an Associated Press inquiry.

Krepinevich wrote that the Army is "in a race against time" to adjust to the demands of war "or risk 'breaking' the force in the form of a catastrophic decline" in recruitment and re-enlistment.

Ah, sober talk indeed. But that'll clear the air a bit in...oh wait:

Rumsfeld said he hadn't read the 136-page report but "it's clear that those comments do not reflect the current situation. They are either out of date or just misdirected."

But at least the political situation is...um...

You may know that it had been agreed upon to form a committee to study proposals for amendments concerning several articles in the constitution within few months after the parliament is seated and that agreement was what encouraged many of the Sunni and secular voters to vote “yes’ for the draft constitution.

This agreement is now in danger, a couple of days ago I read on al-Sabah that the UIA wants the committee that will study proposed amendments to be formed according to the way seats have been distributed in the parliament.

If this happens, amendments will have to pass through 2 firewalls; these are the committee and the parliament before they are put before the voters for a referendum, thus practically preventing any amendment that doesn’t appeal to the UIA from passing.

Well, anyway, Iran then!

This is not a complete list, nor can we verify these totals.
This is simply a compilation based on our news archive.

Guess it depends on what they consider for the archive. The larger civilian body count is a link to this site.

And the fallout.

She looked at her quiet husband through the smoke drifting from his right hand.

"But when it comes out and there's actually a personality behind that picture, and that personality, he has to deal with all the war, and all he's done, people don't want to know how hard it actually is," she said.

"This is the dark side of the reality of war. ... People don't want to know the Marlboro Man has PTSD."