THINGS ARE GETTING WORSE IN IRAQ---MUCH, MUCH WORSE.

Earlier today we reported three U.S. servicemen were killed by a bomb near Baghdad, and now AP is reporting a U.S. helicopter opened fire on a checkpoint near Baghdad killing six members of a Sunni group who were working with U.S. troops.

The Bush administration and their propaganda mouthpiece, FOX NEWS, continue to LIE to the American public about the worsening conditions in Iraq.

Any success in Anbar Province, the "home" of "the surge," is do to Sunni tribal leaders getting together and running Al Qaeda and terrorists out of the region and not U.S. military forces. The U.S. military was used simply as a backup, but had nothing to do with Al Qaeda and the terrorists abandoning Anbar Province.

Do President Bush, Vice President Cheney and FOX NEWS ever look at reports like the following:


03/22/08 Reuters: Decapitated body found in Latifiya
One decapitated body was found in Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

03/22/08 Reuters: Two bodies found in Mahaweel
Police found two bodies with signs of torture and gunshot wounds in Mahaweel, 75 km (45 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

03/22/08 AP: Iraqi security forces battle Shiite gunmen
Iraqi security forces battled Shiite gunmen south of Baghdad on Friday, raising tensions among rival factions of the country's majority religious community and straining a seven-month cease-fire proclaimed by the biggest Shiite militia.

03/22/08 Reuters: Body found in Hilla
One body was found with gunshot wounds to the head in Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

03/22/08 AP: 6 US-allied fighters killed in airstrikes targeting checkpoints
A U.S. airstrike struck checkpoints manned by U.S.-allied Sunni fighters north of Baghdad on Saturday, killing six guards and wounding two, Iraqi police said.

03/22/08 LATimes: Laid-off Iraqi fighters demand jobs - or else
A man in a dusty track suit elbowed his way through the crowd that formed as soon as U.S. soldiers pulled up in this war-damaged village on Baghdad's southern outskirts.

03/22/08 AP: Roadside bomb kills 3 U.S.soldiers, 2 Iraqis
Three US soldiers and two Iraqi civilians were killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq today. The three soldiers' deaths, which brought the number of American soldiers killed since the US-led invasion in 2003 to 3,996

03/22/08 KUNA: Iraqi killed, six wounded in Kirkuk blast
An Iraqi civilian was killed on Saturday and six citizens were wounded, including policemen, when an explosive device targeting a police patrol blew up in Kirkuk, northern Iraq.

And if Bush, Cheney and FOX NEWS can't bring themselves to read the TRUTH about IRAQ, perhaps someone lock them in a room and force them to read this report:

Bomb kills 3 US service members; new tensions with pro-American Sunnis

The Associated Press
Saturday, March 22, 2008

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/22/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq.php

BAGHDAD: A roadside bomb killed three American soldiers north of Baghdad on Saturday, pushing the U.S. death toll in the five-year conflict to nearly 4,000.

Also Saturday, Iraqi authorities reported that a U.S. air strike north of the capital killed six members of a U.S.-backed Sunni group — straining relations with America's new allies in the fight against al-Qaida.

Two Iraqi civilians also died in the roadside bombing, which occurred as the Americans were patrolling an area northwest of the capital, the U.S. military said in a statement.

Two of the soldiers were killed in the blast and the third died of wounds, the statement said. The soldiers were assigned to Multinational Division-Baghdad, the statement said, but gave no further details.

The latest deaths brought to 3,996 the number of U.S. service members and Pentagon civilians who have died since the war began on March 20, 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

With the war entering its sixth year, President George W. Bush paid tribute Saturday to America's fallen service members, saying in his weekly radio address that they will "live on in the memory of the nation they helped defend."

Speaking for the Democrats, however, Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey called on Bush to "face the reality" in Iraq and "tell us the truth" about the cost of the conflict as America is struggling with a faltering economy and mounting casualty tolls.

U.S. officials have pointed to a number of positive signs, including a 60 percent drop in violence since Bush ordered 30,000 U.S. reinforcements to Iraq early last year. Iraqis have also made some limited progress in power-sharing deals among rival Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish communities.

However, U.S. military commanders have been careful to point out that security gains are fragile and that major violence could erupt abruptly.

Much of the progress has been due to a move by thousands of Sunnis to abandon the insurgency and join pro-U.S. defense groups — known as "awakening councils." Another was a ceasefire called last August by firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the feared Mahdi Army militia.

On Saturday, a U.S. attack helicopter fired on two checkpoints manned by U.S.-allied Sunni fighters near Samarra, 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, killing six and injuring two, Iraqi police said.

The U.S. military said an AH-64 Apache helicopter fired on the positions after five people were "spotted conducting suspicious terrorist activity" in an area notorious for roadside bombs.

"Initial reports suggested the attack may have been (at) a Sons of Iraq checkpoint," the military said, using a term for the armed U.S.-backed groups. "The incident is currently under a joint Iraqi-Coalition Force investigation."

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