Well, it's obvious that unless something really amazing happens, the death count is never going to start going down, so it's hardly surprising that it keeps going up.

493 killed by hostile action is sobering, but is not outlandish for a year of invasion and occupation of a nation. I am still amazed that the KIA death count for Afghanistan is still under 50.

I think what irritates me the most is the unwillingness to look at anything beyond the death count. And Donald's political motivation is obvious from many other posts.

There are many issues about Iraq that are worth discussion, and where things could have been handled differently. Analyzing the latter is less about blame than avoiding future mistakes.

Just a few examples off the top of my head:

What actually happened with the Iraqi Army? Was it dismissed, or did it just evaporate on its own? Or some of both? Would incorporating it into the current military have helped, or just brought more insurgents into the system?

Should we have pushed al Jazeera off the air early on and replaced it with news from outside? What are the ramifications of this, moral and tactical? I believe that the lack of an imported source of news in Iraq has been one of the most serious omissions of our effort. This shouldn't have to have been done like this. I blame the near-monolithic Arab propaganda for much of our current trouble.

Are we giving Iraqis enough of a stake in their future? A lot of the oil money should be going straight into their pockets, checks courtesy of the new government. This may do more for hearts and minds than anything else.

Are we losing track of the big picture? Syria and Iran are major supporters of those we are currently fighting. Al Qaeda seems to be focused on Iraq, and on nations which influence Iraq. Can we get other nations to bail out from the Terror Club without firing a shot, like Libya?

What is the role of the U.N.? Should it have one at all, or should some other international organization with less baggage be dealing with this?

Just repeating that people are dying over there, and that Bush sucks, is not accomplishing anything. It would be like me constantly posting "Taxation is Theft!" over and over again. Instead of just once in a while. ;)

Interesting...I did a typo on that smiley like this: ;)_ A guy with a cigarette? Or just somebody with a drooling problem?