More progress in Iraq!!!!!!

7 Iraqi Guard Applicants, 4 U.S. Marines and a Soldier Are Killed

Seven Iraqi men applying for jobs with the Iraqi National Guard were ambushed and killed in western Baghdad on Saturday morning, while the United States military said four marines and a soldier had been killed over 24 hours.

And of course the battle for the hearts and minds of the people in Falluja continues.

The military also said it had conducted an airstrike early Saturday morning in the volatile city of Falluja to kill militants holding a meeting. The military said the targets were members of the network led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant.

The Americans did not give any casualty estimates, but doctors in the emergency room of the main Falluja hospital said 9 people were killed and 16 were wounded, all of them civilians. They said the strike took place in a residential area of eastern Falluja and one woman and a child were among the dead.

In its statement, the American military said, "There were no innocent civilians reported in the immediate area at the time of the strike." Though the military always labels these attacks "precision strikes," doctors and residents in Falluja routinely say the assaults kill civilians. Because of the danger of entering Falluja, a city controlled by insurgents who have installed a Taliban-like rule, foreign reporters are unable to verify the claims of either side.

Maybe the U.S. should consider a new P.R. firm, I think they are getting some really bum advice from the existing one.

Once again we can be thankful we're making progress. Just think of how bad it would be if we weren't.