Oh oh. Better out a few more pages before this story starts going around.

Last month, 776 U.S. troops were wounded in action in Iraq, the highest number since the military assault to retake the insurgent-held city of Fallujah in November 2004, according to Defense Department data. It was the fourth-highest monthly total since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

It's all about checking the spiral of sectarian violence, says this WaPo story. I bet you don't know what a "spiral of sectarian violence is," do you? Well, neither do I. But there does seem to be a lot of spirals in Iraq these days - later: "The Baghdad security plan and the general spiral of operations is driving us to be more active than we have been in recent months," says some guy named Michael O'Hanlon. See? Spirals all over the place. It's starting to look like tornado season there.

Maybe it's just a politer way to say circle jerk.