Meanwhile, more progress

AP/Khalid Mohammed

Meanwhile, back in Iraq, progress!! Another 60 Bodies Found in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Authorities found the mutilated bodies of 60 men in Baghdad in the 24 hours ending Tuesday morning, likely the latest victims of the sectarian death squads that roam the capital.

The bullet-riddled bodies all had their hands and feet bound and showed signs of torture _ hallmarks of death-squad killings, police 1st Lt. Mohamed Khayon said.

The death toll of tortured and mutilated citizens is running about 50 a day. That's 1500 people a month. This is horror beyond my imagination. These people aren't just being pulled off the street and shot, someone is abducting them and torturing them first.

Hideous. Though I'm sure Bush will tell us we're making progress in the fight to populate the afterlife with tortured souls.

In the meantime, Jane Arraf of NBC News, reports from Baghdad on the NBC Baghdad Blog. Calling Bob in Baghdad:

Some readers and viewers think we journalists are exaggerating about the situation in Iraq. I can almost understand that because who would want to believe that things are this bad? Particularly when so many people here started out with such good intentions.

I'm more puzzled by comments that the violence isn't any worse than any American city. Really? In which American city do 60 bullet-riddled bodies turn up on a given day? In which city do the headless bodies of ordinary citizens turn up every single day? In which city would it not be news if neighborhood school children were blown up? In which neighborhood would you look the other way if gunmen came into restaurants and shot dead the customers?

To be truthful, there's not much the Bush administration won't try to explain away, but it's clear the American public sees this disaster for what it is. Not that that matters, Bushco isn't listening anyway.