Iraq - slides further into internecine violence

On Monday, 40 people were killed in a Iraq series of bombings and attacks, including CBS soundman James Brolan and cameraman Paul Douglas, who died in a bombing that critically wounded CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier, now being treated at a U.S. military hospital in Germany.

Another 54 are reported killed today.

Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki has declared a month-long state of emergency in Basra, which has been plagued by sectarian clashes, anarchy and factional rivalry and where 9 UK soldiers killed in the last month.

Col David Cullen, chief of staff at the multi-national military headquarters in Basra, told the BBC's Today programme that security in the city had "slipped" because his forces' attention was spread across the whole of southern Iraq.

"The south is much larger than Basra, there are four provinces here, there is peace, stability, developing prosperity and increasing sovereignty in the other three provinces.

"Basra has slipped behind almost certainly as a result of that disengagement," he said.

Which translated into English means they don't have the resources to deal with the problem. Period. Full stop.

Hey , ...but we introduced Democracy, what's gone wrong.. Abu GHraib ? Haditha looming ?