The costs of war and occupation have been steep.

 As a new report by

the Institute for Policy Studies

tabulates,

 some 11,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed

 and 40,000 injured in the fighting as of June 16;

 meanwhile, crime in Iraq continues to increase,

 oil production has dropped

 and unemployment has soared

 to 60 percent.

  The price to the American people

includes almost 900 troops killed

and more than $125 billion

already spent.

 

  This toll will continue to mount. 

 

While the Administration may claim

that US troops must remain in place

to safeguard

 the fledgling Iraqi government /illegitimate/,

 there can be no real security as long

as the occupation continues.

 

America can't right all the wrongs

 it committed in this war

 -- from invading a country

 without cause

 to rewriting its legal

 and economic code

 to suit US interests.

 

  But it could make a beginning

 by restoring full sovereignty,

 setting a date for withdrawal

 of US forces,

 disavowing plans to retain control

 of Iraq's economy

 and reallocating the billions

appropriated for reconstruction

 to international agencies

 and an independent Iraqi

government.

 

  Only such a government

-- one not manipulated

by the US embassy

/THE legitimate government

 ie Saddam and the RCC/

should determine the country's future.

  Until then, the "handover"

of power will remain

 a sham.