From Holden:

Fifty-one US soldiers killed in Iraq so far this month. September is barely half over and we’ve already blown by the number of US deaths in June (42), may easily surpass the number for July (54) today, and should overtake the total for August (66) sometime next week.

Amazingly, our “fabulous” SecDef thinks the fact that Iraqi security forces are now taking more casualties than US forces is a sign of progress:

According to Rumsfeld, Iraqi forces are now taking the brunt of the casualties. He said this shows that they “are out providing security for their country. They’re not sitting in their barracks hiding. They’re out there doing their job.”

He’s wrong. Both US forces and Iraqi forces are taking casualties at an increasing rate, providing proof that the situation in Iraq has deteriotated beyond the expectations of just a few weeks ago.