Narus.Info

Washington Post-

BAGHDAD — In a city with few real refuges from sectarian violence — not government offices, not military bases, not even mosques — one place always emerged as a safe haven: hospitals.

So Mounthir Abbas Saud, whose right arm and jaw were ripped off when a car bomb exploded six months ago, must have thought the worst was over when he arrived at Ibn al-Nafis Hospital, a major medical center here.
Instead, it had just begun. A few days into his recovery at the facility, armed Shiite Muslim militiamen dragged the 43-year-old Sunni mason down the hallway floor, snapping intravenous needles and a breathing tube out of his body, and later riddled his body with bullets, family members said.

So you see, things are looking up:

AP

The top U.S. general in Iraq said Wednesday that Iraqi forces should be able to take over security with little coalition support as early as next year, even as bloodshed around the country killed at least 66 people.

New York Times- Civil War.

These are the guys who killed Casey Sheehan.

“The clashes reached a point when members of the militias executed soldiers after their ammunition ran out in one of the public squares in front of the residents,’’ General Ghanimi said. “This is true terrorism.’’

Sheik Abdul-Razaq al-Nidawi, described by The A.P. as the city’s representative for Mr. Sadr, said that “the Iraqi army pulled out of Diwaniya and the Mahdi army is in a state of high alert.’’

Asked about the Mahdi army, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, a spokesman for the American military, said that American forces were concentrating on death squads and others involved in sectarian killings, but he said there was no effort to move against any particular group.

“We are targeting those individuals who are operating outside of the law,’’ he said. “We are not targeting any specific organization.’’

How was the US-allied Iraqi Army allowed to run out of ammunition?

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 08/26/2006 | Abu Ghraib no longer houses any prisoners, Iraqi officials sayThe underlying story behind this is the deteriorating security situation. It’s untenable to operate a prison in this neighborhood at this point in the civil war.

“I remember as a child a strange little neighbor girl who was found in her backyard swinging her cat by the tail against the sidewalk screaming ‘you’re gonna love me!’ That’s neoconservatism.”

from hullabaloo

George Allen would be proud. The Shreveport Times has more thorough coverage.

No, it’s not 1924.
In fact, “nothing short of a miracle.”

is oklahoma’s own james inhofe

What about the DNA? and when do we get CourtTV coverage?

Very disturbing story, this may be just the tip of an iceberg.

Bombs Aimed at G.I.%u2019s in Iraq Are Increasing - New York Times

A separate, classified report by the Defense Intelligence Agency, dated Aug. 3, details worsening security conditions inside the country and describes how Iraq risks sliding toward civil war, according to several officials who have read the document or who have received a briefing on its contents.

So Zarqawi’s dead. The only “bounce” anyone received is the increasing number of US vehicles being “bounced” off the road with Americans boys and girls inside.

The fighting in Baghdad is spreading to the countryside. All of this is causing huge business for the funeral industry.