News from Iraq-Indonesia may send troops,October dead highest number civilian dead yet,assassination attempt on sunni politician

A nice little summary of news in Iraq.

The

United Nations said Wednesday that 3,709 Iraqi civilians were killed in October, the highest monthly toll since the March 2003 U.S. invasion and another sign of the severity of

Iraq's sectarian bloodbath.

<img width=1 height=1 alt="" xsrc="http://us.bc.yahoo.com/b?P=nwaDm0SOwhV5_uUHPvz9XxBeQ6jHu0VkhSkADswy&T=1ctff1p0b%2fX%3d1164215594%2fE%3d84441876%2fR%3dnews%2fK%3d5%2fV%3d2.1%2fW%3dH%2fY%3dYAHOO%2fF%3d1878502578%2fH%3dY2FjaGVoaW50PSJuZXdzIiBjb250ZW50PSJnb3Zlcm5tZW50O0lyYXE7cG9saWNlO0hlYWx0aDtjcmltaW5hbDtzZWN1cml0eTtJdDt2aWN0aW1zO3RlcnJvcmlzdDttaWxpdGFyeTtjcmltZTtpdDtBbWVyaWNhbjtjb3JydXB0aW9uO3JlZnVybF9yYXdzdG9yeV9jb20iIHJlZnVybD0icmVmdXJsX3Jhd3N0b3J5X2NvbSIgdG9waWNzPSJyZWZ1cmxfcmF3c3RvcnlfY29tIg--%2fQ%3d-1%2fS%3d1%2fJ%3d55C28E44&U=13au787m0%2fN%3da7J9AtG_fyg-%2fC%3d557021.9452046.10293067.1442997%2fD%3dLREC%2fB%3d4105215">

The U.N. tally was more than three times higher than the total The Associated Press had tabulated for the month, and far more than the 2,866 U.S. service members who have died during all of the war.

Ouch.  not civil war?

On Tuesday, a car bomb attack inside the Green Zone apparently attempted to kill Iraq's controversial speaker of parliament. The small bomb exploded in the back of an armored car in the motorcade of the Sunni speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, as it was being driven into a parking lot near the Green Zone's convention center, where al-Mashhadani and other Iraqi legislators were meeting, a parliamentary aide said.

Good thing they have any government officials left!  if you read the article, you'll know that this is the FOURTH politician to be  targeted recently.

Indonesia said it would be willing to send peacekeepers to Iraq under a U.N. flag and to encourage other Muslim countries to do the same. Indonesia, which had previously rejected the possibility of sending troops to Iraq, said any long-term solution to the war should include the involvement of the global community.

Well thats a good step anyways...  More international involvement is good...
Also, the British foreign minister says they may turn over Basra to Iraqi security "by spring." 
meanwhile, President Bush has a meeting with Al-Maliki planned at the end of November, to discuss the deteriorating situation in Iraq.  Read that, Al-Maliki will ask him to withdraw American troops, and Bush will say "but we have to stay teh course or else the terraists and the dems will WIN!"

SO things don't look so good in Iraq, and Afghanistan clearly needs more troops...

Tell me you aren't impressed by that SUAVE diplomacy of our commander in chief!  Here's hoping that Indonesia can persuade other Muslim countries ot help in Iraq, adn the UN can contribute more troops to Afghanistan.  Because OUR military is stretched thin, an the important thing here is not the rhetoric of victory, but the safety of the civilians.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

 •    •    •    •    •