Last Throes Watch

The violence in Iraq continues to surpass even its own previous psychopathic levels. Key fact of the day:

[T]he past week saw the highest number of suicide bomb attacks of any week since the American-led invasion in 2003, according to the chief United States military spokesman in Iraq, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV. "This has been a tough week," General Caldwell said. "This week’s suicide attacks were at their highest level in any given week." But such attacks, he said, are still not the No. 1 killer of Baghdad civilians. "Murders and executions are," he said.

I'm waiting for Michelle Malkin and Glenn Reynolds to dismiss this as media bias. But this is a U.S. general telling the truth. And this is where we are: the signature act of the Jihadists, suicide bombing, is at an all-time high. But this isn't the biggest problem. Iraq is now a failed state. It failed because we decided to let it fail - because the pride and arrogance of Cheney and Rumsfeld were more important than the most vital mission of our time. Their incompetence has made us all much, much less safe. And their authoritarianism has made us much, much less free.