An Iraqi update

That small group of soldiers that Rumsfeld claimed were responsible for the torture in Iraq were apparently very mobile, as new reports of abuse surface in another city:

Allegations that American soldiers routinely tortured and maltreated detainees have emerged from a third Iraqi city, renewing fears that abuse similar to that inflicted in Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad has been systematic and widespread.

American soldiers in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul beat and stripped detainees, threatened sexual abuse and forced them to listen to loud western music, according to statements seen by the Guardian.

Lawyers investigating the claims have sent details to the Pentagon and the British Ministry of Defence and have demanded an inquiry.

The disturbing abuse accounts include the cold water treatment, loud music, beatings, and other accounts you have to read to believe. No claims are made as to who was responsible for this mess or who may have ordered these actions.

More carnage:
Car Bomb Kills at Least 47 at a Police Headquarters in Baghdad
and
Insurgents Target Iraqi Police; 59 Dead
and they hit another oil pipeline:

The 3 a.m. attack blew up a junction where multiple oil pipelines cross the Tigris River at the northern city of Beiji. The burning oil melted power cables, causing a short that knocked power plants off line and cut off electricity across Iraq until late afternoon, officials said.

The breach also shut down the pipeline ferrying crude oil from Kirkuk's huge oilfield to an export terminal in Ceyhan, Turkey. With crude oil selling above $40 a barrel, the frequent sabotage has cost Iraq more than $2 billion, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has said.

Also in the New York Times is a summary of where we are at in Iraq:

But as the Americans and their allies raise the pressure on the insurgents, they are rapidly finding themselves in the classic dilemma faced by governments battling guerrilla movements: ease up, and the insurgency may grow; crack down, and risk losing the support of the population. The additional quandary facing the Americans is the need to break the deadlock before January, the self-imposed deadline for elections.

On Sunday, insurgents struck the Americans and their allies in the Iraqi government in manifold ways: with suicide bombings, mortars and rockets, many of them showing a careful aim. Some of those attacks seemed intended not just to hurt the Americans but to provoke them into overreacting and alienating ordinary Iraqis.

Or, as summed up by an Iraqi:

"When the Americans fire back, they don't hit the people who are attacking them, only the civilians," said Osama Ali, a 24-year-old Iraqi who witnessed the attack. "This is why Iraqis hate the Americans so much. This is why we love the mujahedeen."

Quite the quagmire, isn't it, Mr. Bush. Perhaps we should stay the course a bit longer?