Iraq

32 more bodies "bound, tortured, and shot," were found around Baghdad on Thursday. (By the way notice that these reports of death squad killings never mention deaths outside Baghdad. How many?)

Same article: "Apart from the mounting toll of execution-style murders, some of them sectarian, some probably the work of kidnap gangs, Thursday saw a number of bombings that have become routine." (14 dead, at least 26 wounded.)

(CNN) - A suicide truck bomb hit a U.S. Army outpost Thursday in Baghdad, killing two American soldiers and leaving 25 wounded, the U.S. military said.

(Reuters) - "Saudi Arabia is trying to secure its borders with Iraq to prevent violence in its northern neighbour spilling into the wider region, a Saudi official said on Thursday."

Joseph Ralston, the US appointee to try and deal with the Kurdish - Turkish violence, warned Turkey against military action, said the US would not militarily engage the PKK, then said he will not meet with them because, "I never meet a terrorist organization." So, you're doing what exactly?

The Financial Times has an article with a number of revealing bits. Sunnis are afraid to go to the hospital since a Sadrist was appointed health minister, "anyone who goes to the hospital is likely to turn up in the morgue several days later, pierced through the skull with an electric drill."

And, "according to a Pentagon report, 115,000 out of a planned 137,000-strong force are already on duty, with 92 per cent of battalions formed." So, they're formed and the violence is still where it is?

Tom Dispatch has this rather informal look at twelve ways the military has filled out its numbers. Interesting side point, Rumsfeld's transformation to high tech is being undermined by lower recruiting standards.

(AP) Iraq war's signature wound: Brain injury.