Iraq bomb outrages belie US good news spin

Washington launched its desperate damage limitation exercise following a massive suicide bomb blast at an Iraqi army recruiting office on Tuesday that killed 61 people.

Challenged by reporters on the US presidential plane Air Force One after the attack, White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton suggested that both the US "withdrawal" and "democracy" in Iraq were "firmly on track."

However hours later two fresh bomb attacks undermined his claims.

The streets of Baghdad were rocked on Tuesday night by a fuel lorry bombing that killed eight and injured 44.

On Wednesday a bomb in Tikrit, 80 miles north of the capital, killed two security guards at a courthouse and wounded three civilians.

Two other attacks on Wednesday - the shooting dead of a Ministry of Housing worker in western Baghdad and a rush-hour road bomb in the east of the city - also underlined the increasingly violent situation in the country.

Washington's attempt to bring a US-friendly Western-style democracy to Iraq has also descended into chaos.

Talks to end a five-month deadlock between the two biggest parties broke down on Monday without agreement.

The failure of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to reach an accord with his rival Ayad Allawi - whose party and its supporters won most seats in March's parliamentary elections - has effectively left the country without a government.

Ignoring the impasse Mr Burton said that "democracy is thriving there already."

"The fact that there is a lot of competition for who is going to be running that country is a good thing," he claimed.

US soldiers in Iraq currently total 56,000, with the so-called withdrawal set to see that figure reduce by a mere 6,000 by the end of August.

However the US military has constructed a string of 14 permanent bases in the country.

Fifty thousand will stay on in what the Pentagon describes as a training, back-up and counterterrorism role.

The plans, drawn up by current US commander in Afghanistan General Petreaus, envisage passing the front-line risks onto Iraq soldiers - a similar plan to that proposed for Afghanistan.