Memorial Day

According to icasualties.org, here are coalition deaths in Iraq through May 29:

US: 1,657

UK: 89

Other: 92

TOTAL: 1,838

(1,450 of those US deaths have occurred since the President declared: "Bring ‘em on.")

Reported US wounded through May 25: 12,630 (about half of these returned to active duty within 72 hours)

Although George W. Bush clearly intended the following statement as a joke, humor often presents uncomfortable truths: "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator" (CNN, 18 December 2000). BuzzFlash has two additional instances of Bush in a similarly wistful mood.