Iraq snippets of note on the equinox and the start of year 4

three years later, iraq still dominates the news... meanwhile, welcome to spring (northern hemisphere) or fall (southern hemisphere)...

• At least 51 people were killed by insurgents and shadowy sectarian gangs, police reported — continuing the wave of violence that has left more than 1,000 Iraqis dead since the bombing last month of a Shiite Muslim shrine.

• [George Bush, speaking at] the City Club of Cleveland: "In the face of continued reports about killings and reprisals, I understand how some Americans have had their confidence shaken," he said. "Others look at the violence they see each night on their television screens and they wonder how I can remain so optimistic about the prospects of success in Iraq. They wonder what I see that they don't."

• [Speaking] at the International Association of Firefighters' legislative conference in Washington.Democratic Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska: [T]ime for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to "be told to go home" and for Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff "be given his walking papers" [Biden]; U.S. involvement in Iraq had been "badly mismanaged by the administration" [Richardson]; "There's been a credibility erosion for three years." [Hagel].

• Three years of upbeat White House assessments about Iraq that turned out to be premature, incomplete or plain wrong are complicating President Bush's efforts to restore public faith in the military operation and his presidency, according to pollsters and Republican lawmakers and strategists.

and so it goes...

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