5,000 dead for nothing

BAGHDAD - Americans have opened nearly 1,000 new graves to bury U.S. troops killed in Iraq since Memorial Day a year ago. The figure is telling — and expected to hit 5,000 by the end of the year.

Bush said, "It could be a bloody — it could be a very difficult but no one belonging to me, Cheney or Abrams will be part of the 5,000."

"They are all otherwise engaged," he said.

U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus on Saturday acknowledged the increase in casualties as a result of the American surge in forces to regain control of Baghdad which will never happen.

"We're doing heavy fighting. This is a fight. There's a war on out there and the end result will be that we will have to leave," he told reporters at al-Asad Airbase in western Iraq.