semi irregular weekly iraq roundup

Subtitled: What your U.S.$6.6 Billion bought you in Iraq this week. (yes, I know, the price has gone up. But it's 241 weeks since we invaded, and now a congressional panel has determined that the final cost of the war will reach $1.6 Trillion. so 1.6 Trillion divided by 241 weeks works out to ... tada--6.6 billion dollars this week)(that's $22 each for every single american this week. or $88 for a family of four) (or enough to double the entire weekly salary of the poorest billion people on the planet) (and enough to double it again next week, and so forth) ( I think think of a bunch of better things to do with our $88 bucks than help continue a situation where 306 civilians get murdered. hey--but all in all, that's pretty cheap, actually. where else could you get 306 civlians murdered for only $88? Oh, wait--that's per each of "us". I guess the cost per death works out to ... 21 million dollars each. Ouch. Maybe we should have given the money directly to the terrorists. I bet they can kill civilians more cheaply than that. by a mile.)

Okay, by show of hands, how many still think we need more western troops in Iraq? Or that given enough time, we can fix the problem we've created by staying there and doing what we've been doing, only harder? Yes, George, I mean apart from you.

From Iraq body count:

Sunday 25 November: 36 dead

Baghdad: car bombs, roadside bombs kill 18 in Bab al-Muatham, Waziriya, Rostomiya, Rusafa; 5 bodies.
Baquba: gunmen open fire on car, kill 3 members of the same family.
Basra: gunmen kill civilian; 3 bodies.
Mandali: gunmen shoot 2 borthers.

Saturday 24 November: 17 dead

Baghdad: 4 bodies.
Falluja: 2 bodies.
Mosul: roadside bomb kills policeman; 2 bodies -a university student and her mother.
Samarra: car bomb kills 3 policemen.
Hilla: 2 worshippers shot dead outisde mosque.
Tuz Khurmato: body found.
Wajihia: body found.

Friday 23 November: 74 dead

Baghdad: bomb in pet market kills 15; 6 bodies.
Mosul: car bombs hits police patrols, kill 21; 7 bodies.
Jalawla: school guard and wife beheaded in front of their children by relatives critical of their 'western' ways.
Kut: 2 killed in separate attacks; 8 bodies.
Dhuluiya: 3 bodies.
Najaf: body of 17-year-old is found.

Thursday 22 November: 48 dead

Baghdad: 4 bodies.
Hawr Rijab: up to 18 'Awakening' Council guards reported killed in attack by gunmen.
Baquba: 3 village residents killed in attacks by gunmen on two villages.
Abu Saida: 8 residents killed during clashes with militants.
Mosul: car bomb kills 2; roadside bomb kills policeman; decapitated body of University lecturer from Tikrit is found.
Kirkuk: member of municipal council is shot dead; decapitated body found.
Basra: 2 shot dead.

Wednesday 21 November: 67 dead

Baghdad: gunmen kill interior ministry secretary; 9 bodies found, 6 in mass grave in back garden in Saidiya.
Ramadi: suicide car bomb kills 6; mass grave is found, containing 40 bodies.
Hawija: US forces raid house, kill 4 peasants from the same family.
Baquba: 3 bodies.
Mosul: 2 bodies.

Tuesday 20 November: 31 dead

Baghdad: 6 killed in separate incidents, Mansour, Atifiya, Bayaa; 6 bodies.
Zighania: gunmen attack home, kill 3 brothers.
Dhuluiya: 3 bodies.
Basra: 4 bodies.

Monday 19 November: 40 dead

Baghdad: roadside bomb kills 1, Baladiyat; 3 bodies.
Basra: mother and 5 children are killed when a rocket hits their house; body found.
Baquba: gunmen attack police station, kill 3 policemen; 3 bodies.
Falluja: 3 killed by car bomb.
Samarra: 4 bodies.
Tikrit: 5 bodies of policemen found.