4000.

The story speaks for itself:

BAGHDAD (MSNBC, 10:30 EDT) March 23 - Four U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Baghdad late Sunday, raising the death toll for American forces since start of the war to 4,000, according to the Pentagon.

The grim milestone was reached less than a week after the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion to topple former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and coincided with a spate of violence across Iraq on Sunday that left at least 61 people dead.

The attacks included rockets and mortars fired at Baghdad's U.S.-protected Green Zone and a suicide car bomb detonated at an Iraqi army post in the northern city of Mosul.

The latest violence underscored the fragile security situation and the resilience of both Sunni and Shiite extremist groups as the war enters its sixth year.

The attacks in Baghdad probably stemmed from rising tensions between rival Shiite groups — some of whom may have been behind the Green Zone blasts. It was the most sustained assault in months against the nerve center of the U.S. mission.

Late Sunday, four U.S. troops were killed and another injured after being attacked with an improvised explosive device while conducting a vehicular patrol in Baghdad, the military said.

The military said the soldiers were from Multi-National Division but gives no other details about their identities.

The deadliest attack of the day was in Mosul when a suicide driver slammed his vehicle through a security checkpoint in a hail of gunfire and detonated his explosives in front of an Iraqi headquarters building, killing 13 Iraqi soldiers and injuring 42 other people, police said.

Iraqi guards opened fire on the vehicle but couldn't stop it because the windshield had been bulletproofed, said an Iraqi army officer. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to release the information.

Mosul, Iraq's third largest city about 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, has been described as the last major urban area where the Sunni extremist al-Qaida group maintains a significant presence....

The rest is here.

Now pardon me, as I must stick my head out of the window so as to begin screaming BLOODY MURDER!

Thanks for the Support

In honor of the 5th anniversary of our national commitment to supporting Bush's foreign (oil war) policy, a moment of song...

I'm a fan of Roy, and it's always nice to hear people put music to things that have been on my mind; it's something else to hear it done so well.

Just this morning, I learned that in 29 Palms, California, a SUPER BOOSTER military town, there is a growing peace movement. Now there's a little bit of reality I'd like to see broadcast far and wide, it sitting next to the largest marine corps base in the world and home to hundreds of retired military officers. I mean, this is a town where only a few years ago, stating that "Bush is killing our troops" made local news coverage, caused one's car to be vandalized, and resulted in the loss of employment with the city.

Support Our Troops - Prosecute Bush, by Robert Whitlock

Speaking of broadcasting anti-war movements, thanks to the corporate media, I never realized that...

We've already, in both the lead up to this war and since the war in Iraq has been going on now for five years, we've already had demonstrations that equal in size all but perhaps one of the anti-war demonstrations during Vietnam, and that was April 24th from 1971.

And since we don't see it broadcasted by corporate media, it's as if it never happened...

I confess, I liked Zimmerman's jab at the Democratic led congress, which has given more support to Bush than I had dreamed possible. Got me thinking about the way congress has failed to support the very Constitution that our military is supposedly dying to defend. Nice rub there.

And, I've been ruminating on the way the Bush Beasts stage, film, and broadcast whatever reality they want us to consume, props and all. "You showed up on Thanksgiving with a turkey and a camera crew." They keep dishing it up, and we keep eating it.

During this election season, I think we must all be on the lookout for more acts of the Ministry of Make Believe, forever glamorizing, patriotizing, codifying, godifying the "war" in Iraq.

We need to see reality clearly.

Who is going to open the windows and let the smoke clear?
Who will break the mirrors?

Let us find those people and give them support. Let us be those people.

TAGS: Protest Music, Roy Zimmerman, Anti-War, Peace Movement, Support the Troops, Twentynine Palms