Iraq 9/4: 40 tortured civilian bodies found, 5 coalition soldiers killed (2 UK 3 US)

[Thorgrim]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi police found 40 bullet-riddled bodies in Baghdad Monday, an official with Baghdad emergency police said.

Most of the bodies showed signs of torture, their hands were cuffed, and some of the bodies were blindfolded, the official said.

Police could identify 17 bodies, all of them civilians, the official said.

Also Monday, two British soldiers were killed and two others were wounded when a roadside bomb struck their convoy north of Basra, a British military spokesman said.

One of the wounded soldiers is in critical condition, the spokesman said.

The deaths bring the British military death toll in the Iraq war to 117.

Three U.S. troops were killed Sunday, the U.S. military said Monday.

Two Marines were killed in Iraq's Anbar province. They were assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 and died as a result of "enemy action." A U.S. soldier was killed by an improvised explosive device near Baquba. The soldier was with the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.

The deaths brought to 2,644 the number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war.

CNN.com - 40 bodies found in Baghdad; al Qaeda leader in custody - Sep 4, 2006

I'm just wondering, after 3 years of this...is 3 soldiers a generally "good story" because we've lost in the double digits on many days so thats better than that, and 40 tortured bodies, i guess thats better than 80 exploded ones, I think?

I'm just trying to figure out, as bad as Iraq has become, if this news is "progress" or bad news?

[Nonphixion]

It is a sign of the times.

These things in specific will only increase in frequency as time goes on.