Bomb Kills 10 Marines, Wounds 11 in Iraq

Ten dead. The senseless war keeps rolling along.

A roadside bomb killed 10 Marines and wounded 11 others on a foot patrol near Fallujah, the U.S. military announced Friday. It was the deadliest attack against American troops in four months.
The ambush occurred Thursday against Marines from Regimental Combat Team 8, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. The Marine unit has suffered some of the highest casualties of the Iraq war.
The unit's latest losses were among 14 new deaths in Iraq announced by the military Friday. With at least 793 American lives lost since January, 2005 appears on track to become the deadliest year for the troops since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. There were 846 deaths in 2004, and 485 the previous year.

So what did our regime say about the deaths? "We're saddened."

Press Secretary Scott McClellan says a loss like this represents a "tough day" for the U-S cause -- the kind that President Bush has warned about.
But the spokesman says the soldiers sacrificed "for an important cause," and America will be forever grateful.

Too many tough days and for what? Are there positive prospects on the near horizon? And positive for who? Zogby International's poll paints a picture that the majority of U.S. citizens accept and realize.

Most Arabs continue to believe the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq has harmed prospects for both stability and democratic development in the region, as well as the welfare of Iraqis themselves, according to survey's designer, Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development Studies at the University of Maryland and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
"Iraq has become the new prism of pain through which Arabs are looking at the U.S. and the world," he said, noting that 80 percent of respondents said they based their views on U.S. "policies," rather than U.S. or Western "values" or way of life.

So when will W realize it? Not until he stops listening to those voices in his head. Not until he stops listening to neo-cons who want to build the next "Holy Empire." Not until he stops listening to the money-men looking for the "next big market."