Jack Murtha said that the killings in Haditha are "worse than Abu Ghraib." And as the horrific details come out -- and the cloud of a cover up settles over what the president termed the "very troubling" allegations -- it looks like Murtha's Iraq crystal ball is as clear as ever. Don't miss the Haditha takes of Peter Beinart, Michael Smerconish, Stephen Elliot, Robert Dreyfuss, and Carol Liebau -- as well as Marty Kaplan's and RJ Eskow's responses to Liebau. And be sure and check out James Galbraith's touching remembrance of his father, and Harry Shearer staying on the story of the Army Corps of Engineers' culpability in the drowning of New Orleans. And, as always, our Sunday Roundup of some of the week's top posts featured below.

I did some disturbing reading over the weekend. First, there was the latest quarterly Pentagon status report [PDF] on Iraq, which revealed that "on average, nearly 80 Iraqis were killed or wounded every day... up from the previous quarter's 60 per day." There was also an increase in the number of attacks, from under 500 per week to over 600 per week. Then there was this from USA Today: "At a time when the United States has enough trouble in Iraq, Afghanistan is increasingly beginning to resemble that war." But the saddest thing I read was the LA Times reporting that Iraqis have responded to the Haditha killings with a collective shrug because, three years into the U.S. occupation, "the notion of foreign troops killing innocent civilians simply doesn't deliver much shock." It was George Bush's legacy in black and white. And blood red.

A prominent Democrat recently told me that he wished the 2006 election was today because he wasn't sure where things would stand five months from now. Really? Let me clue him in. One thing is for sure: five months from now, we'll still be in Iraq, fighting a counterinsurgency we're not prepared to fight, with more Hadithas -- and a less safe America -- the inevitable result. Iraq is producing a bumper crop of newly galvanized and battle-hardened terrorists, and every Haditha is a nightmarish sprinkling of Miracle-Gro on the seething anti-Americanism the war has exacerbated.

Why are Democrats sending mixed messages about Katrina? Yes, the Democratic National Committee held its annual spring meeting in April in New Orleans, saying the devastated city would be a symbolic image for the 2006 campaign. But yesterday, on the floor of the Senate, while denouncing the ludicrousness of the GOP's pandering gay marriage ban, Harry Reid castigated the administration for avoiding the most pressing issues facing Americans: "high gas prices, the war in Iraq, the national debt, health care, senior citizens, education, crime, trade policies, stem cell research." Notice Katrina didn't even make the list. I wonder if that's because it's not polling very well these days.

HuffPost has just launched a revamped and greatly expanded Eat the Press, our one-stop shop for the media aficionado. Click here for a banquet of media news, views, blogs, gossip and much, much more. All served up with the usual HuffPost flavor. With the most secretive administration in history occupying the White House, a vigilant press is more important than ever. Yet the line between reporters, sources, administration shills (I mean, former hill staffers), and dinner companions keeps getting blurrier. Scooter and Judy. Rove and Novak. Tim Russert lobbying softballs to Dick Cheney. Luckily, one of the things the blogosphere does best is hold the mainstream media's feet to the fire, and we intend to keep the Eat the Press burners on high. So give it a taste. You'll keep coming back for more.

So the GOP was able to hold onto the Duke Cunningham seat in California's 50th Congressional District. Democrat Francine Busby actually did fairly well, losing to Republican Brian Bilbray by only 5 percent in a district where Republicans hold a 14-point edge in registration. And, as Rick Jacobs points out, the GOP spent $10 million defending a supposedly "safe" Republican seat. But, in the end, the problem for Busby wasn't the money -- it was the message. The question is: Will national Democrats learn the lesson of California's 50th? READ MORE

Three white hot topics were burning up the blog this week: the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Marriage Protection Amendment, and Ann Coulter's comments about the 9/11 widows. Along with the takes on these in our Sunday Roundup below, don't miss David Wallechinsky, Eric Boehlert, RJ Eskow, Scott Thill, Stan Goff, and Ankush Khardoni on Zarqawi, Margaret Carlson, Larry Beinhart, Hilary Rosen, Sam Seder, Michelle Goldberg, Mona Gable, and Gene Stone on the gay marriage ban, and Chris Durang, Bob Cesca, Margaret Nagle, Davis Sweet, Tony Hendra, and Tom D'Antoni on Coulter. If you haven't already, be sure and check out the revamped and greatly expanded "Eat the Press", our banquet of media news, views, blogs, gossip and much, much more. And don't miss Stephen Elliott's moving post based on his interviews with two families who lost sons to the Iraq war.

I just arrived at the YearlyKos convention in Las Vegas and it's already clear that Mark Warner is the runaway winner of this pre-Iowa caucus. Money no doubt helped his cause: I'm hearing that Warner has spent over $100,000 courting the netroots here in Vegas. As Warner told me, "This is a community that needs to be taken seriously, and represents the democratization of the public square of America."

Harry Reid is in his home state, parked in a skybox overlooking the YearlyKos convention hall and having one-on-one meetings with bloggers and MSMers. I'm followed by Ron Brownstein of the LA Times. I ask him what he's making of all this: "When that many people are talking to each other," he replies, "something important is happening. We just don't know exactly what it translates to, and many of the participants are asking the same questions. They know they are part of something that is changing political life, but everybody is trying to get their arms around what the electoral and governing impact is going to be." READ MORE

Warner the Clear Winner of the Pre-Iowa Caucus I just arrived at the YearlyKos convention in Las Vegas and it's already clear that Mark Warner is the runaway winner of this pre-Iowa caucus. Money no doubt helped his cause: I'm hearing that Warner has spent over $100,000 courting the netroots here in Vegas. As Warner told me, "This is a community that needs to be taken seriously, and represents the democratization of the public square of America." READ MORE

I'm in New York, where Monday the Huffington Post will receive two Webby awards for Best Political Blog. One of the fun quirks of the Webbys is that award winners only get five words for their acceptance speeches. Last year, Al Gore brought the house down with his: "Please don't recount this vote." So what should my five words be as I accept the award Monday night on behalf of our HuffPost team? Help me decide -- here are a few options. READ MORE

Stating the Obvious in Las Vegas One of the greatest pleasures of the YearlyKos conference was hearing the obvious stated as the obvious -- instead of the usual "one side claims this, while the other side claims that" notion of "balance." READ MORE

Harry Reid at Home Warner the Clear Winner of the Pre-Iowa Caucus

Listening to Hillary's speech, you could almost smell the cold calculation hanging in the air like the smell of gunpowder after a shooting.

My favorite moment of the week came when the president, asked why he hadn't told the new Iraqi Prime Minister he was flying to Baghdad to meet him until just 5 minutes before he arrived, replied, "Iraq is a dangerous place" -- managing to simultaneously sound like the tough cowboy unafraid of riding into hostile terrain, and the whiny, petulant frat boy who keeps insisting that being president is "hard work." Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there; this Sunday Roundup is for you (better than another tie, right?) And don't forget to add your suggestions for the first annual "Inspire George Bush Film Festival."

It's been a week since Patrick Fitzgerald decided that he couldn't make the case against Karl Rove, and I'm amazed that more hasn't been made of the role Viveca Novak played in Rove's narrow escape from prosecution, since her perfidy did more to stymie his indictment than anything else. If you recall, Novak was the Time reporter whose loose lips started the chain of events that eventually sunk Pat Fitzgerald's ship, unconscionably blabbing inside information to Rove's lawyer, who passed it on to Rove, who, wonder of wonders, suddenly remembered that he'd leaked the lowdown on Valerie Plame to Matt Cooper -- a fact he'd "forgotten" to tell the grand jury. She was Bush's Brain's human stay-out-of-jail-free card.

Last night, I went to see Rita Wilson making her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in the revival of Bob Fosse's Chicago. While writing my book about fearlessness, I had spoken to Rita about her lifelong dream of appearing in a musical, and facing all the fears associated with being 49 years old and never having sang or danced professionally before and then suddenly doing it for the first time. On Broadway. And now here she was, just a few months later, living out her dream. She was absolutely amazing -- funny, sexy, charismatic, completely owning the role and the stage. This was everything I'd been writing about come to life: Becoming Fearless... and all that jazz.

It's a multi-accented advertising orgy all this week as the ad world takes over Cannes for the 53rd Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival -- a high-energy mashup of screenings, workshops, seminars, schmoozing, deal making, and awards ceremony. I flew all night to take part in a panel discussion along with Martin Sheen and Sex and the City's Michael Patrick King, who was hilarious.

To see a streaming version of the whole panel discussion, click here.

Setting the Record Straight: On Trolls, Moles, and Dis-Invited Bloggers

Dear HuffPost Readers, Commenters, and Bloggers, Here's the bottom line on the issues raised by Peter Rost: We disabled his password for one reason ...

Advertising people love to boil a concept down to its essence, the memorable catch phrase that captures the heart and soul of a product. Think "Got Milk." The prevailing theme of this year's Cannes Ad Festival is: "Got a Future?" Everyone here is talking about how the ad world needs to recreate advertising in a way that will embrace new technologies and engage the new breed of consumers. One of the ways the big agencies are responding to the challenge is by elevating and empowering the creative people in their companies so they're not smothered by the money people. It's the Rise of the Creatives.

Click here to see video of the Cannes Ad Festival panel I was on with Martin Sheen and Michael Patrick King.

Setting the Record Straight: On Trolls, Moles, and Dis-Invited Bloggers