And here cometh the bullshit...

These statements are truly becoming tragi-comedy, who believes these people anymore, other than mouthbreathers. A vast majority of the country now knows that everyday is opposite day for the White House:

At a news conference with Casey, Rumsfeld said Iraq is moving forward.

"This is a sovereign country, and they are making impressive progress," he said.

Here is today's "impressive progress" --

*BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed a senior judge in Baghdad's Amiriya district, Interior Ministry sources said. The judge, Ibrahim al-Hindawi, was the head of the main court responsible for the western Karkh sector of Baghdad.

*BAGHDAD - Police found the bodies of two men in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday. No more details were available.

BAGHDAD - Two people were killed and five wounded when a bomb planted inside a mini bus exploded in the Shi'ite Sadr city slum in eastern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Four policemen were wounded when a car bomb exploded near a police checkpoint near Yarmouk hospital in western Baghdad, police said.

BAQUBA - Gunmen killed four people, including an eight-year-old girl, in separate incidents in religiously mixed Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

TAL QASIR - Four Iraqi policemen and two insurgents were killed on Monday when insurgents attacked a police station in Tal Qasir, 200 km ( 125 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

NEAR KIRKUK - Gunmen shot dead two soldiers and a policeman who were out of duty on Monday near Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

KIRKUK - Gunmen killed a soldier working in the Oil Facility Protection Service on Monday in the main road between Tikrit and Kirkuk, police said.

And as Juan Cole notes this is a relatively light day of violence in Iraq.