For our friends of the right-wing persuasion, who actually seem to believe Iraq is “shaping up quite nicely” after nearly six years of U.S. military occupation, death and destruction:

John Tirman: Bush’s War Totals
We are now able to estimate the number of Iraqis who have died in the war instigated by the Bush administration. Looking at the empirical evidence of Bush’s war legacy will put his claims of victory in perspective. Of course, even by his standards–”stability”–the jury is out. Most independent analysts would say it’s too soon to judge the political outcome. Nearly six years after the invasion, the country remains riven by sectarian politics and major unresolved issues, like the status of Kirkuk.

…The overall figures are stunning: 4.5 million displaced, 1-2 million widows, 5 million orphans, about 1 million dead–in one way or another, affecting nearly one in two Iraqis.

Iraq’s Gravedigging Industry Is at 100% Full Employment
Amidst the soaring unemployment in Iraq, the gravediggers have been busy. So busy that officials have no record of the number of graves dug; of the real death toll, that is.

“I’ve been working here four years,” a gravedigger who gave his name as Ali told IPS at the largest cemetery in Baghdad, a sprawling expanse in the Abu Ghraib section of the capital city. “In 2006 and some of 2007, we buried 40- 50 people daily. This went on for one-and-a-half years. …Only a few appeared to have died from natural causes.

A String of Insurgent Attacks in Baghdad and Baquba Leave At Least Six Dead
A string of attacks, including three consecutive blasts in Baghdad, left at least six Iraqis dead on Sunday, local media reported. The first blast injured two civilians on a main thoroughfare in Baghdad’s al-Karada district early in the morning, police sources told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

Soon after, an explosion killed an Iraqi man and wounded at least 14 other civilians in the western Baghdad district of al-Qahira, the news agency reported.

That blast was quickly followed by a car bomb in the Mansour district of western Baghdad. At least four people were injured.

In Baquba, the capital of the ethnically divided Diyala province, at least two Iraqi soldiers died and five were wounded after a bomb exploded as their patrol was passing through the district of al- Maqdadiya.

That attack followed an bomb explosion in the al-Sadiya district of the city. At least one Iraqi soldier died in the blast and an unknown number were injured, a security spokesman told VOI.

Suicide Bomber Kills 4 U.S. Soldiers in Iraq
A suicide bomber detonated his car bomb near a U.S. Army patrol Monday in the northern city of Mosul, killing four soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter.

…Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, remains a trouble spot. U.S. military officials say the city has become the last stronghold of the militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq, which has been largely run out of provinces to the south. Mosul is also a hotbed of tension between Sunni Arabs and Kurds, who are vying for influence in northern Iraq.

A brief military statement said three soldiers died at the scene and a fourth died later, along with the interpreter.

Iraqis Say U.S. Patrol Killed 8-Year-Old Girl in Crowd of Pilgrims
An 8-year-old Iraqi girl was killed Saturday and several other civilians were wounded when gunfire from an American military convoy struck a crowd of Shiite pilgrims traveling to the holy city of Karbala, witnesses and Iraqi officials said.

Iraq’s Minister for Women, Frustrated, Quits
Iraq’s state minister for women’s affairs has quit to protest a lack of resources for a daunting task: improving the lives of “a full army of widows” and other women left poor or abandoned by war. Nawal al-Samarraie told The Associated Press yesterday her office’s budget was so tight that she found herself dipping into her own pockets to help women who came begging. She finally submitted her resignation last week, after only six months, as her budget was slashed from $7,500 to $1,500 per month, part of government cuts forced by falling oil prices. “I reached the point that I will never be able to help the women,” she said.

A Different View of the Iraqi Elections
Iraqi writer Fadhil Al-Rubaie calls in question the idea that the Iraqi local elections were an exercise in national democracy in any conventional sense. Rather, he says, they were subject to three factors that make them more likely a further step in the direction of national break-up.

Falluja’s Strange Visitor: A Western Tourist
The police summoned local Iraqi journalists to tell them of the wandering Italian, American marines were called in, the Italian Embassy was notified. The police concluded that Mr. Marchio was not an Italian jihadist and was a risk to no one but himself. An American marine working with the police suggested taking him to the city limits and dropping him where Falluja met the main highway.

“I explained to him that it was not safe to move around,” said Renato Di Porcia, the deputy chief of mission at the Italian Embassy in Baghdad. “He is a little bit naïve.”

On Friday night Mr. Marchio was being held for his own safety, the Iraqi police said.

For our friends on the right who believe the ridiculous myth that President Bush went along with the commanders he appointed, instead of firing them when they gave him advice he didn’t like:

The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008
Fiasco, Thomas E. Ricks’s #1 New York Times bestseller, transformed the political dialogue on the war in Iraq—The Gamble is the next news breaking installment.

The Gamble offers news breaking information, revealing behind-the-scenes disagreements between top commanders. We learn that almost every single officer in the chain of command fought the surge.

Interestingly enough, Ricks thinks that General Petraeus will get President Obama to keep U.S. troops in Iraq almost indefinitely, which would of course violate Bush’s agreement with Maliki (PDF) that requires all foreign forces to depart before December 31, 2011. Read an excerpt from The Gamble.

Obama Weighing 23-month Iraq Withdrawal Option
The White House is considering at least two troop withdrawal options as it weighs a new Iraq strategy — one that would preserve President Barack Obama’s campaign pledge to get all combat brigades out within 16 months and a second that would stretch it to 23 months, two officials said Friday.

Sources: Iraq, Afghanistan Redeployment Decisions Delayed
Decisions about withdrawing troops from Iraq and sending more troops to Afghanistan have been delayed until the Pentagon provides President Barack Obama with more detail about the risks and implications, according to two senior Pentagon officials.

…So far, a final recommendation from the military has not been submitted to the White House. The 19- and 23-month options were developed by the military, but Obama did not specifically ask for them, the officials said.

“The President is not fixated on a time frame. He has taken a step back and is reflecting on what’s at stake,” the second official said.

Let’s hope President Obama remembers that the American people voted for his 16-month withdrawal plan, and that every additional month in Iraq costs lives and $12 billion.