The day after the execution of Saddam Hussein’s execution, the 3000th American soldier dies in Iraq.

His name: Dustin Donica.

I wish I had the names of Iraq’s countless victims.

Peace groups are holding protests to mark the occasion. George Bush especially let the media know he was mourning this one.

Donica’s death by a roadside bomb is not more significant than the first soldier to die, nor is it worse than any one of the more than one million Iraqis killed by US policy since 1990. Its significance is beyond being a round number. It marks the beginning of a new year.

The conception of the new year celebration, with the countless resolutions, is the idea of a chance to start over, to have a blank slate. What is George Bush’s new year resolution? By all indications — his rejection of the Iraq Study Group and by his statements — there is little hope for the magical appearance of sensible policy. That may be a little too much to hope for. How can you derive sensibility from the tragic effects of a despicably-mad, widely-opposed decision? How can we expect anything smart from the same jokers in office?

These are not the hardest questions for Bush and friend. This one is. As John Kerry asked in 1971, “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?”