Change Watch: Obama's military policy is different how?

The cute little counter at the top left of this page is limited to toting up the bill for Iraq in U.S. tax dollars. Every once in a while, we are reminded of the cost in young American lives. What we almost never think of is what it's doing to Iraq. Journalist Jeremy Scahill estimates that the American occupation of Iraq, now the adopted policy of the Obama-Biden administration, has resulted in the deaths of 1,000,000 Iraqis from bloodshed, starvation, and disease.

[If you'd dropped by a few days ago, you'd have been able to see, via a link to YouTube, Scahill's comments about Iraq -- on Bill Maher's show -- edited together into a short coherent piece. However, HBO appears to have decided to remove Maher from the national discussion. Too bad because his voice is needed.]

For this, Obama, Biden et al can share the blame with Bush and company. But when the death toll in Afghanistan and Pakistan starts to climb to similarly obscene levels, the Obama team will own the policy exclusively.