U.S. State Department official Richard Schmierer said the rocket attacks appeared to be coming from fighters affiliated with al-Sadr who were "trying to make a statement" about the government offensive in Basra. He blamed the violence on "marginal extremist elements" who have associated themselves with the Sadrist movement.

See, its just "marginal extremist elements"-no biggie, And if 4004 american troops have died, well, as Techie said, thats how many americans die from car accidents in a few weeks (yet the over 2700 americans that died on 9-11 is still a national tragedy).... I don't see what the big fuss is about... (Of COURSE 10's-100's of thousands of Iraqi's have been killed, but hey, Saddam MIGHT have killed more in that time, it really doesn't matter whose hands their blood is on, does it?).

This is COMPLETELY different than when Rumsfeld said in 2003 :"In those regions where pockets of dead-enders are trying to reconstitute, Gen. (Tommy) Franks and his team are rooting them out," ..."In short, the coalition is making good progress."

Oh, and Australia removing its troops from the 'coalition'? Why that is a GOOD thing!

"Troops are coming out because we are successful," Bush said. "That's fundamentally different from saying, 'It's just too hard, pull 'em out.' "