MEANWHILE...
Explosion kills 14 Marines in Iraq

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Fourteen U.S. Marines were killed today when a huge bomb destroyed their lightly armored vehicle, hurling it into the air in a giant fireball in the deadliest roadside bombing suffered by American forces in the Iraq war.

The deaths brought to 23 the number of Marines killed in the past week in fighting along the volatile Euphrates Valley of western Iraq and marked one of the bloodiest periods for U.S. forces in months.

In all, 44 American service members have died in Iraq since July 24 — all but two in combat.

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Never mind the WMD fabricatons, the bogus Al-Qaeda connection, and the lies about how easy it would be to establish a democracy in Iraq. The biggest lie of all is that these dead soldiers were told they were fighting for freedom and America. And they probably believed it to their final moments among the living. It's just awful: they didn't die for their country. They died in the service of a failed plan hatched by arrogant and amoral men to take control of Iraq's oil reserves and establish American hegemony over the Middle East, all for the benefit of wealthy and powerful elites who don't give a shit about a single one of them. In other words, they died in vain. And that makes me sick to my stomach.

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