8 - 13 - 24 - 42 - 60 - 74

Yesterday I noted the deaths of eight U.S. soldiers in one day. Today we learn that 13 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Baghdad alone since Monday - the highest three-day death toll for U.S. forces in that city since the war began. Attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq have killed at least 24 soldiers and Marines since Saturday.

These losses come in spite of having doubled the number of troops in Baghdad since June in support of the Iraqi government's “new security plan”. Major General James Thurman, commander of the Multinational Division Baghdad, said recently that attacks against our forces in Baghdad have reached an average of 42 a day, an all-time high. Major General William Caldwell says the number of IEDs is at an all-time high.

This disclosure of heavy U.S. losses came on another day of horrible violence for Iraqis civilians – at least 60 people were killed in incidents across the country.

Seventy-four soldiers and Marines were killed in Iraq in September, the highest monthly toll since April, when 76 died.

Our military officials are saying the surge in violence is due to the increased exposure of U.S. forces patrolling Baghdad to try to stop the waves of reprisal killings between Shiites and Sunnis. That doesn’t sound like the U.S. fighting terrorism; that sounds like the U.S. getting caught between the two sides in a growing civil war. That isn’t why we went into Iraq, if memory serves.

General Caldwell also announced yesterday that an entire Iraqi police brigade -- 800 to 1,200 officers -- had been pulled out of service and placed under investigation for complicity with death squads. "There is clear evidence that there was some complicity in allowing death squad elements to move freely when, in fact, they were supposed to have been impeding their movement," the general said.

This is the latest attempt to root out corruption in Iraqi security forces that have been infiltrated by militias and death squads that do more to worsen sectarian violence than protect Iraqi citizens. Caldwell said the brigade will undergo "anti-militia, anti-sectarian violence and national unity training." Say what? This is where we are in the plan to have Iraqis “step up so that we can step down” – training them in national unity?

Why are we still setting all-time highs in troops killed, IEDs planted, and enemy attacks after having been in Iraq for three and a half years? Why are U.S. troops dying in the middle of sectarian violence? What kind of progress are we making in getting Iraqis to defend their country if an entire police brigade has to be taken off the line because they’re making matters worse? It sounds like we still have to step up because they’re still stepping down.

What will tomorrow bring?