U.S. suffers its deadliest week with 46 losses

From the LA Times via the Houston Chronicle:

On the anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, thousands of women and children fled this war-ravaged city Friday as the U.S.-led coalition sought to regain large swaths of the country now under the control of anti-American militias.

As U.S. officials also tried to stave off a revolt from its handpicked governing council, authorities reported Friday that five more U.S soldiers were killed in the last two days, bringing to 46 the number of American troop deaths since Sunday -- the deadliest week for the U.S.-led occupation since Saddam's ouster.

Iraqi insurgents declared they had taken more hostages Friday, including two Americans and four Italians, a day after militants showed footage of three captured Japanese aid workers whom they threatened to burn unless their country withdrew their troops from Iraq.

And

Despite the widespread revolt, U.S. authorities here sought to cast the turmoil in the best light.

"It's a gross mischaracterization to say the entire country is at war," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told reporters Friday. "The entire country is under combat."

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Not only is the situation in Iraq horrible, it's turning surreal: "The entire country is under combat." That's great. Just great. I'll file that away with "We had to destroy the village in order to save it."

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