Have a Blast in Baghdad

Patrick Cockburn, writing in Counterpunch, notes that a bomb was discovered on an airplane in Iraq back on November 22nd. The British Embassy no longer provides transportation to Baghdad International--the airport road is too dangerous.

Juan Cole reports that on Monday, 5 more US deaths were confirmed by the government--4 in the vicinity of Baghdad, 1 near Kut, with 13 more wounded--while 5 US soldiers were wounded today.

On the other side of the coin, it looks more and more like the Fallujah offensive accomplished nothing beyond indiscriminate killing--well, that and the entire destruction of the city. The New York Times reports today that there are STILL pockets of resistance, mostly in the southern part of the city. As for rebuilding, if Najaf is any example, expect plenty of corruption and shoddy work--and who's to say that the city won't rebel again if/when they ever complete a VERY expensive reconstruction that requires pretty much starting from scratch.

By the way: Donald Rumsfeld probably won't be going to Germany any time soon, seeing as how 5 Iraqi nationals filed a lawsuit against him there, charging him with crimes against humanity. Others named in the suit include CIA director George Tenet, Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Steven Cambone, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, Brigadier General Janis L. Karpinski, and more.

That's still probably better than what's in store for the average soldier.