Bush stands on bodies of the troops ridiculing Senator while relevance of more significant Iraq news demands Commander in Chief attention

see the chart and read more at New York Times

Military Charts Movement of Conflict in Iraq

By Michael R. Gordon
Published: November 1, 2006

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 — A classified briefing prepared two weeks ago by the United States Central Command portrays Iraq as edging toward chaos, in a chart that the military is using as a barometer of civil conflict.

(note; per the chart, guestimate how long before it reaches the red zone chaos indicator on the graph bar - days, weeks? How many U.S. troops killed in Iraq in October 2006 alone - over 100 and how many thousands more Iraqis killed in the same month?)

Also note the interesting observation by Andrew Sullivan

While the media is obsessed parsing the ad libs of someone on no ballot this fall, something truly ominous has just happened in Iraq. The commander-in-chief has abandoned an American soldier to the tender mercies of a Shiite militia. Yes, there are nuances here, and the NYT fleshes out the story today. But the essential fact is clear. In a showdown for control of Baghdad, the Iraqi prime minister took orders from Moqtada al-Sadr, and instructed the U.S. military to withdraw from Sadr City. The American forces were trying both to stabilize the city but also to find a missing American serviceman. He is still missing.

And see where Washington Post reports on how US Air Force has to beg for more money to bring home wounded troops.

Air Force said to seek $50 Billion emergency funds

By Andrea Shalal-Esa
Reuters
Tuesday, October 31, 2006; 2:50 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force is asking the Pentagon's leadership for a staggering $50 billion in emergency funding for fiscal 2007 -- an amount equal to nearly half its annual budget, defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute said on Tuesday.