5 US Troops Killed, 18 Wounded

I take today's New York Times/ AP report on Iraq as a very bad sign.

For one thing, it says

"On Monday, the military reported five new U.S. deaths: Two American soldiers from Task Force Baghdad were killed and three wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in northwestern Baghdad. One American soldier died and two were injured in a vehicle accident 30 miles northwest of the town of Kut in eastern Iraq, the military said. In addition, two U.S. Marines were killed in a weekend bombing south of the capital. The military also reported 13 Marines were wounded Monday in a mortar attack south of Baghdad."

That is a large one-day toll. 16 injured from direct guerrilla attack, another two in a vehicle accident that may or may not have been produced by the war. And 5 deaths, though two of those were from the weekend, and one from a vehicle collision. It doesn't look like things are miraculously settling down in the aftermath of Fallujah.

Indeed, November was the second-deadliest month for US troops since the invasion itself. That isn't the kind of trend line you would like to see for a successful venture.

Then the rest of the article talks about how inadequate has been the performance of the Iraqi police and national guards, who face intimidation, threats, and even murder at the hands of the guerrillas.

Guerrillas used a car bomb to kill 7 or 8 national guards in Baghdadi, a small town west of the capital.


Worse and worse.