Another @&*#ng Vegacura Day

How appropriate that on this, the most holiest of days, we would wake up to this story.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 15 — American soldiers demolished a farmhouse near the Sunni Arab town of Balad on Wednesday after encountering unexpectedly heated resistance from insurgents, killing a number of civilians in the process.

The American military said that only three civilians had been killed, while Iraqi officials said an entire 11-member family — from a 75-year-old grandmother to a 6-month-old baby — had died in the attack.

Maj. Tim Keefe, a military spokesman, said American troops were on their way to capture an insurgent in a rural area north of Baghdad when insurgents opened fire from the farmhouse.

"Coalition forces returned fire, utilizing both air and ground assets," Major Keefe said.

The results were devastating, according to images broadcast on Arab TV: dead cows, scorched cars, a smashed house and 11 bodies rolled up in blankets.

The insurgent suspect was captured, Major Keefe said, adding that American officials were continuing to investigate the matter.

Adding to the dozens of bodies found in recent days, several more handcuffed and badly beaten bodies surfaced in the streets of Baghdad on Wednesday. Violence flared around the country, including in Baquba, where two people were killed by a suicide bomber on a bicycle.

Oh, and it's official. "One, two, three, what are we fighting for? Don't ask me, I don't give a damn, next stop is Aiiii-ran."

Apologies to Country Joe and the ever-present Fish.