There's no "end" in quagmire.

Today three bombs killed at least 17 people in Baghdad, which is less than half the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli missiles on Saturday.

The surge in Iraq has made parts of Iraq more secure. Imagine that. More troops equaling more security. The political process isn't making the same progress, though it did recently make some. I mention Iraq, because we are still at war there, as we are in Afghanistan. We also shot missiles into Somalia today in an attempt to kill "a known al Qaeda terrorist". This last military strike is most likely what we'll see more of, if the War in Iraq ever does actually end. Specific strikes on "al qaeda" where they live and train will be a change from invading and occupying a nation for five years (Iraq not Afghanistan) that had little, to nothing, to do with al qaeda until after we arrived. The president of Iran is visiting Iraq and is receiving the "red carpet" treatment in a country whose old tyrant-in-charge was an archenemy of Iran. When will mahmoud ahmadinejad finally thank the neo cons for giving Iran the only clear victory, so far, in their War in Iraq? His nemesis is gone. The, albeit more secular than Iran, shi'a majority in Iraq hold the majority of the seats in the Iraqi government. Not only that, the Iraqi government, whose nation we have spent 4,000+ American lives and $500 Billion to build, has now given him a pulpit to say "the US should get out of Iraq". Well done cheney, rumsfeld, wolfowitz, perle, chalabi and every other bullshit artist that the alcoholic cheerleader-in-chief had "faith" in.

The Mahdi Army, headed by "cleric" moqtada al sadr, has had a cease fire in place since August. Do you think that might have something to do with the reduction of violence since the summer?

The blunders made by the men and woman in charge of Our government, in particular the War in Iraq, have created an impossible situation. Whether intentional or not, allowing the looting of government buildings, libraries, and museums, some of which housed 5000 year old artifacts from Mesopotamia (the land of Babylon), unemploying thousands of low to middle ranking military men, and the slow to fix/lack of improvements to infrastructure essential for Iraqi survival (electricity, water, etc.) has created a situation where military aged, and younger, Iraqi males are angry, desperate, and broke. A situation that certainly makes militias like the mahdi army, and worse, look better to those "left behind" during the "liberation". It also makes it so, in the US military's eyes, every, of age, male Iraqi is a suspect to be detained, and that's not very encouraging to Iraqis either. The fall of the oppressive dictator saddam hussein is seen as an improvement by many in Iraq, but the overall life they have been left with thus far in the US occupation of their Country is not an improvement. Maybe they really did want to greet us with sweets and flowers, but didn't when they saw that we really didn't give a damn about them or their culture. We just wanted saddam, and a big old base/embassy right smack dab in the middle of the region.

The question now is what happens next and when. When, and if, we leave, what will we leave? Will al sadr's "army" come out guns a blazing at the Sunnis? Will the Shi'a rule the government and be allied with Iran's Shi'a theocracy? Will the country, bush is "bringing democracy" to, be forced to fracture into three segregated regions, like Senator Biden has been calling for for years? And the 80 pound gorilla in the room... How long can Our Military sustain these troop levels, with troops having longer and more numerous tours, without a draft?

The atrocious mistakes made in the first weeks of this war have lead to a much longer and more expensive occupation than we were told was estimated by the chicken hawks-in-charge. The anger and desperation that these mistakes caused make it hard to leave without thinking that the violence will erupt upon departure. Some say Our presence is causing more violence than it's preventing. I hope they're right, because we are going to begin Our troop drawdown/redeployment once a Democrat takes the White House. A redeployment based more on attacking al qaeda, and other terrorists, specifically, and not invading nations with tenuous, if any, ties to them.

This is one Hell of a disgusting mess these men and a woman have created in Iraq and the greater "middle east" region. Iran, Hamas, Hezzbollah have become more powerful, because of the failed and flawed policies of this administration. Policies made by Experienced men, like dick and rummy. I say, try them all for treason for willfully misleading Our Nation to war under false pretenses, or try them at the Hague for invading a sovereign nation without provocation, or not abiding by the Geneva Conventions, or for the bush doctrine of pre-emptive war. The "bush doctrine"... I Hope no one uses it on US?