Meanwhile Back in Iraq

Bush must be hoping for another hurricane or that another top Republican will get indicted to keep this off the front page.

Car bombs in Iraq kill more than 110

BALAD, Iraq (Reuters) - Car bombs have killed more than 110 people, 25 of them children, in a surge of violence in Iraq ahead of an October 15 referendum on a new constitution.

One of the four car bombs ripped through a crowded market in the southern town of Hilla killing at least 12 people and wounding 47 on Friday, police and health officials said.

In the mainly Shi'ite town of Balad, north of Baghdad, the death toll from three huge car bombs on Thursday rose to 98 on Friday, hospital director Kassim Aboud said.

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Five U.S. soldiers were also killed in one of the deadliest bombings on U.S. forces in weeks, near Ramadi, a bastion of the insurgency west of Baghdad, the U.S. army said on Thursday.

In Washington, the U.S. commander in Iraq told senators plans to cut troop numbers next year might be thwarted if violence continued through the referendum and an election due in December. The number of Iraqi troops able to operate without U.S. support had fallen to one battalion, he added.

I'm sorry Mr. Bush but "stay the course" is not a plan.