While Republicans mocked...

...the decoration awarded to our war wounded with their Purple Heart bandaids, the troops they claim to support were earning the real thing at an accelerated pace in Iraq.

BAGHDAD, Sept. 4 -- About 1,100 U.S. soldiers and Marines were wounded in Iraq during August, by far the highest combat injury toll for any month since the war began and an indication of the intensity of battles flaring in urban areas.

Yep. Over a year after the "end of major combat" and two months after the "end of occupation," the casualty count continues to climb. Not just in Najaf, either. On top of

...more than three weeks of fighting by two Army and one Marine battalion in the southern city of Najaf...U.S. units frequently faced combat in a sprawling Shiite Muslim slum in Baghdad and in the Sunni cities of Fallujah, Ramadi and Samarra, all of which remain under the control of insurgents two months after the transfer of political authority.

...and bandaids won't help much.

Normally, perhaps half the patients who come to the emergency room qualify as "acute" cases, a term that indicates severity and urgency. "A soldier who comes in and is almost bleeding to death will require more care than someone who is just shot with a bullet," Beitz explained. In August, however, the rate of acute cases jumped to three of four ER patients.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam analogies take on a disturbing new dimension...

More and more often, children are lobbing the grenades, Ford said. Insurgents offer boys of 10 or 12 years old $150 to toss a grenade at a U.S. patrol, the captain said.

"For the longest time, we've had a good relationship with the children," Ford said. "Now this. Who enjoys putting a bead on a kid?

George Bush is the "war President." He made that term part of his job description.

So tell me. If you screwed your job up as bad as he's screwed his job up, wouldn't you get fired?