Further proof of Progress in Iraq

Aside from the previous post's information about U.S. military forces murdering another reporter, Information Clearinghouse has a few good headlines.

Eight policemen, five Shiite poultry vendors killed in Iraq

Iraqi Police Find Eight Beheaded Bodies

Suicide Car Bomber Kills Six in Iraq

Iraqis Fear Era of Relentless Chaos, Cruelty

Iraqi oil workers lament lack of jobs

And an editorial:

We may now be only weeks away from a complete collapse of the Iraqi army and the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq in the face of overwhelming public pressure on Tony Blair.

That is a realistic projection based on the reports of two Washington Post reporters, whose dispatches from inside Iraqi Army units and U.S. units assigned to train and work with the Iraqi military have just been published.

What the Post reporters found was massive disenchantment on both sides: American forces bitterly disappointed with the Iraqi government forces, and Iraqi troops harboring similar feelings toward their American counterparts. Only a small percentage of all Iraqi troops are now estimated to be adequately trained to take over the defense of their country. Desertions are widespread.

More than 1,700 American men and women sent to Iraq have returned home in body bags thus far, and more than 7,000 have been critically wounded. War dead in total exceeds 25,000, including "collateral casualties." And the price tag for our military operations tops $200 billion - and counting.

Recent surveys in Iraq have shown that insurgents are overwhelmingly Iraqis, not foreign fighters. Few are associated with al-Qaida.

  Herald Dispatch article

Juan Cole has a further list.

And as for the U.S. military:

"According to the Pentagon, less than 1 per cent of the army has deserted from the Iraq war.

  CTV article

Apparently, that's 6,000 soldiers.