24 Commas Dead In Iraq

While the President cals the violence in Iraq "just a comma", 24 American families just received the worst call a parent can get:

Thirteen U.S. soldiers have been killed in Baghdad since Monday, the American military reported, registering the highest three-day death toll for U.S. forces in the capital since the start of the war.

The latest losses -- four soldiers who were killed at 9 a.m. Wednesday by small-arms fire -- are part of a recent spike in violent attacks against U.S. forces that have claimed the lives of at least 24 soldiers and Marines in Iraq since Saturday, the military said.

Our troops are getting chewed up in the meat griner that is Baghdad, where it's gotten so bad that an entire police brigade had to be removed because they were working with Shiite death squads. Indeed, only 24 dead Iraqis would usher in a new era of peace in Baghdad; at least 60 died yesterday alone. But 24 dead American soldiers is absolutely tragic.

The thing is, the President had to have known that, when he sent additional troops right into Baghdad where the violence is at its peak, that he was putting American lives at major risk. That he would pick the same time to dismiss the entire conflict as "just a comma," right when casualty counts would certainly go up, displays a callousness that is almost unimaginable. This cloistered President who's never had a moment's suffering sends American boys and girls to their death while claiming their work is merely a prelude to the glory of the coming of the Great Iraqi Awakening. What a sick man.

Colin Powell, who ought to be hiding out somewhere in a bunker in Kansas out of shame for his role in initiating this mess, nevertheless says what everyone but the commander-in-chief seems to know:

“Only the Iraqi people can resolve this,” Powell said.

U.S. troops have to stay in Iraq for “some time,” he said. “But there is a limit to the patience of the American people.”

…In Iraq, “staying the course isn’t good enough because a course has to have an end,” Powell said.

But the comma gets longer and more tragic for Americans and Iraqis, a comma that has so far lasted 3 1/2 years, cost nearly half a trillion dollars, killed or wounded up to 100,000 human beings, and shows no sign of moving into the next dependent clause.

It's time for new leadership.