Six US Service People Killed Just Today

And yet we're not supposed to ask Mr. Bush for a game plan, while he insists things are just getting better there ALL the time:

Bombing and shooting attacks west of Baghdad killed six U.S. troops, and a suicide car bomber slammed into a truck carrying Iraqi policemen near the airport Thursday, killing at least eight and wounding 25 — the latest wave of violence aimed at derailing advancing political process.

The attacks came as Shiite politicians completed efforts to include the disaffected Sunni Arab minority in the work of drafting Iraq's new constitution. Senior members of the Shiite-dominated committee writing the charter reached agreement with the Sunnis on how many representatives the minority will have on the body.

Thursday's deal broke weeks of deadlock between the 55-member committee and Sunni Arabs over the size of their representation. The stalemate had threatened Iraq's political process as it was about to enter its final stretch, with two key nationwide votes later this year — a constitutional referendum and a general election.

Insurgents have used that time to carry out a series of attacks, killing nearly 1,100 people since the Shiite-led government took office April 28.