"IT'S A GROSS MISCHARACTERIZATION TO SAY THE ENTIRE
COUNTRY IS AT WAR. THE ENTIRE COUNTRY IS UNDER COMBAT."

Title courtesy of Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, currently stationed in Iraq.

From the London Guardian courtesy of J. Orlin Grabbe:

"We are expecting to be overrun tonight," he emailed friends in Colorado. "We may have to fight our way to a safe haven. Unfortunately all the safe havens are already under attack ... We'll probably be OK! I'll email when I'm safe."

Mr Bloss didn't send another email. He managed to keep the assailants at bay long enough to enable the contractors he was protecting to escape. But he was killed in a gun battle - and with him a little more of what optimism is left in Iraq.

On the first anniversary of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the country was in the grip of mayhem and insurgency, Mr Bloss was one of at least a dozen people to die at the hands of insurgents across the country yesterday.

Click here for more.

This article is similar to the Houston Chronicle article that I linked to last night. However, it's interesting to note how the non-profit, non-American Guardian has quite a different tone--it just straight up calls the situation "mayhem," and doesn't seem to offer any White House or Pentagon spin on the story. The article also emphasizes a few different facts, most notably the increasing use of mercenaries instead of soldiers by the "Coalition."

God, I love the Guardian. It's totally outside of the US pro-establishment corporate news media's control.

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