Some more news on the War in Iraq--none of it good.

An Iraqi woman looks out of her tent at a refugee camp Saturday April 29, 2006 in Diwaniyah, 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq. Sectarian violence has forced about 100,000 families across Iraq to flee their homes, a top Iraqi official said, as 14 more Iraqis were killed Saturday, including six who were tortured in captivity. (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)

I found two stories off Yahoo News. The first story is titled Violence Uproots 100,000 Iraq Families:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sectarian violence has forced about 100,000 families across Iraq to flee their homes, a top Iraqi official said. At least 17 people, including an American soldier, were killed Saturday in fighting.

Adil Abdul-Mahdi, one of the country's two vice presidents, estimated on Friday that 100,000 Iraqi families — 90 percent of them his fellow Shiites — had fled their homes to escape attacks by rival religious sects.

Abdul-Mahdi's estimate was higher than any offered so far by Iraqi officials, who have placed the figure at about 15,000 families, or about 90,000 people.

Dr. Salah Abdul-Razzaq, spokesman of a government body that runs Shiite religious institutions, put the number of displaced Shiite families at 13,750 nationwide, or about 90,000 people.

That includes 25,000 Shiites who have fled since the bombing of a Shiite mosque in Samarra on Feb. 22 triggered a wave of attacks on Sunni mosques and clerics.

An Iraqi girl cries while looking for her father at a refugee camp Saturday April 29, 2006 in Diwaniyah, 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq. Sectarian violence has forced about 100,000 families across Iraq to flee their homes, a top Iraqi official said, as 16 more Iraqis were killed Saturday, including six who were tortured in captivity. (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)

Whichever statistic you choose, the Iraqi civil war, and the concurrent insurgency against the American occupation forces, is having a disastrous effect on the civilian population. When families are uprooted from their homes, by the fighting, they will tend to move towards areas where they believe will provide them with basic living needs--food, clothing, shelter. But uprooted families also disrupt the social fabric of civil society. Men are no longer gainfully employed to provide the social and economic needs of both society, and of their own families. Women are no longer able to care for their homes, families, or even their own jobs if they are also employed. Children no longer attend schools, to gain knowledge and develop social skills with other children. While networks--families, neighborhood, school, religious, social, small shopskeeping, are disrupted when families are uprooted from traditional homes. And even more, by settling in new regions, these wandering families will compete for the economic resources with the native individuals and families that currently reside in that region, which can cause even greater conflict. It is almost like vigorously shaking a bee hive--such an action will disrupt the normal activity of bees, as they buzz furiously around their hive, before they can finally settle down in time.

But what does the U.S. military have to say about this disruption?

However, the U.S. military insists that even the lower estimates appear exaggerated.

U.S. command spokesman Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said this week that American troops investigate all reports of displaced people and have found no evidence of "widespread movement" away from religiously mixed areas.

Lynch said sectarian attacks in the Baghdad area had fallen by 60 percent last week and were approaching the levels before the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, which triggered a wave of reprisal attacks against Sunnis.

Guess everything is all honkey doory in Iraq. Or is it?

Well, I found another interesting article off Yahoo News, titled Bush Warns of More Tough Fighting in Iraq:

WASHINGTON - President Bush warned Saturday of tough fighting to come and "more days of sacrifice and struggle" in Iraq as April drew to a close as the deadliest month for American forces this year.

"The enemy is resorting to desperate acts of violence because they know the establishment of democracy in Iraq will be a double defeat for them," Bush said in his weekly radio address as he saluted the emergence of a permanent government.

"There will be more tough fighting ahead in Iraq and more days of sacrifice and struggle," he cautioned. "Yet, the enemies of freedom have suffered a real blow in recent days, and we have taken great strides on the march to victory."

As of late Thursday, at least 69 Americans had died in Iraq in April. The toll was 31 in March, 55 in February and 62 in January.

The administration hopes the political progress in Iraq, which came only after a frustrating four months of infighting and amid persistent violence, will be a turning point. If it is, that could pave the way for a significant drawdown in the number of U.S. troops there.

Bush said the new government's formation "marks the beginning of a new chapter in America's involvement."

U.S. President George W. Bush waves while walking towards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, April 27, 2006. REUTERS/Larry Downing

Reading Bush's remarks, I'm reminded of the later days of the Second World War--where a delusional Adolf Hitler, hunkered down in his bunker complex in Berlin, commanded his generals to send phantom divisions out to attack American and Soviet positions, extolling how Germany would win the war with "secret weapons," all while the Red Army artillery shells rained down upon Berlin. While artillery shells may not be raining down on Washington, a delusional hunkers down in his own White House bunker, extolling how the U.S. will win the war in Iraq, how the "enemies of freedom have suffered a real blow these days," while ignoring the fact that 69 Americans have been killed in Iraq in April. Already 217 Americans have died in Iraq this year--and we're only a third into this year!

How much more delusional can President Bush get?