Spiraling Violence

October is officially the deadliest month for US forces in Iraq in two years. As we awoke today, it was to the news that the deaths of three Marines in al Anbar province raised Octobers death toll for US forces to 78.

By days end, the Pentagon had confirmed five more troop deaths; four soldiers and one Marine, raising the total to 83, with a week of October remaining.

Across Iraq, the same 24 hour period saw the (reported) deaths of 44 Iraqi's in acts of sectarian violence. Nine were killed and dozens injured when explosions ripped through a busy Baghdad marketplace and bakery where shoppers were buying food for the Eid celebration to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The deadliest attack was on a convoy of police recruits. Gunmen in five sedans ambushed the busses transporting the newly inducted police recruits back home after the ceremony. Fifteen were killed and 25 more seriously injured.

The Bush administration has been spinning furiously, attempting to find any new tactics that might quell the bloodshed as the midterm elections loom ominous for the congressional Republicans. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have expressed less-than-confident feelings about the ability of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to get a handle on the increasing bloodshed.

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Sunday expressed doubts, indicating that pressuring al-Maliki might not work, as Maliki has very little clout. “We keep saying, 'Go to your Shiites and get them straightened out, or the Sunnis, or divide the oil.' And al-Maliki keeps saying, 'There isn’t any group here that wants to talk about those things.'" Lugar said.

How exactly is what we are doing in Iraq furthering our aims of combating terror? I fail to see how our involvement in Iraq improves our lot one iota; and it sure as hell is not improving the lot of the average Iraqi. So again I ask, what the fuck are we doing there?