Literature may have deemed April the cruelest month, but October is one of the deadliest; October 2005 closed with one of the highest monthly death tolls of American servicemen in Iraq, bringing the total death count among American forces to 2,025 since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Additionally, over 15,000 servicemen have been wounded, and 159,000 soldiers are currently stationed in Iraq.

President Bush’s outlook is grim; even before the indictment and resignation last week of Lewis Libby, Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, on charges relating to perjury and illegally disclosing the identity of an undercover CIA officer, the President’s popularity was waning. A recent poll discovered that approximately 53% of the populace now believes American military action in Iraq was an incorrect course of action. Bravo, Mr. President.

Mimi Hanaoka