It must be 'progress day' in Iraq!

Or 'progress week' for that matter. Yesterday we had the fifth U.S. chopper shot down in Iraq since January 20, and three Army Reserve officers, along with two American civilians accused of steering money to contractors in exchange for kickbacks. Today we learned that Iraqis were fleeing from Iraq to the tune of 3,000 a day (or more than 2 million since the war started), and the Iraqi Health Minister is being accused of being a central figure in alleged corruption and the infiltration of the ministry by Shiite militiamen. Go ahead, ask yourself, what's next!?

Four Marines were killed today in action in Iraq, bringing the total number of U.S. service members killed in the country since the start of the war to at least 3,114.

Four U.S. Marines were killed in fighting in Anbar province, the military said Thursday. The Marines, who were assigned to Multi-National Force — West, died Wednesday from wounds sustained due to enemy action in two separate incidents in the insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, according to a statement. The deaths raised to at least 3,114 members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The U.S. Embassy, meanwhile, said U.S. officials were investigating a previously undisclosed Jan. 31 incident involving a civilian helicopter. A military official in Washington said the helicopter either crashed or was forced to land by gunfire. The passengers and crew were rescued by another U.S. helicopter, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

Bush certainly does have one helluva distorted definition of "progress" doesn't he? Seems someone forgot to tell the insurgents that a supposed security crackdown got underway yesterday in Iraq.