The new Iraqi government and its American patrons should have been basking in the glow of a two-week blitz of ["good news."]

* * *

But insurgents have counterattacked, scuffing the sheen of progress.

By week's end al-Maliki's government was forced to declare a state of emergency and shoo its citizens off Baghdad's streets with two hours notice after the tenacious insurgency took the offensive Friday along Haifa Street, just blocks from Iraq's seat of government.

Two days earlier, one of the defense lawyers for Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants was kidnapped from his home by men wearing Interior Ministry uniforms and flashing genuine-looking credentials. He was found slain in Sadr City, Baghdad's Shiite Slum - the third defense attorney to be murdered since the trial started.

On Tuesday, the bodies of two captured American soldiers were recovered - beheaded and surrounded by booby traps. And al-Zarqawi's successor, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, said he conducted the brutal slayings.

At least 14 other U.S. soldiers or Marines died in combat or insurgent bombings in a particularly bloody week for the military.

So much for the deadly blow that was allegedly dealt to Al Qaeda by Zarqawi's "death." Iraq is disintegrating.

Armchair warriors in the White House and in Congress continue to argue that in theory "staying the course" is better than "cutting and running." Meanwhile, in fact, our soldiers are dying by the dozen each week, not to mention dozens of innocent Iraqis.

When will this madness end? How many young lives must be obliterated before working Americans realize that this war is being fought so that a tiny minority of the world's population can live like kings?

_______________________

Read from Loking Glass News

Baghdad in state of emergency

White Phosphorous, Daisy cutters, Depleted Uranium, Thermobaric bombs, Clusterbombs, Napalm...The US uses WMD against civilians.

6,000 murdered in Baghdad alone this year - US death squads the unmentionable factor.

Return to Ishaqi: The Pentagon's Shaky Self-Exoneration

Countless My Lai Massacres in Iraq

The IMF in Iraq: The Second Invasion

Great Moments in the History of Imperialism

The Green Zone

$85m "7-star" hotel set for Baghdad's Green Zone

Latin American mercenaries guarding Baghdad’s Green Zone

Life in the Green Zone

Publicity Stunts as Public Policy

Howdy Doody in Babylon

Bush in Baghdad

Horror show reveals Iraq’s descent

My leg keeps getting longer

"We don't do torture" ... We strip you naked at your home

Inquiry Finds Use of Abusive Interrogation Techniques in Iraq