COUNTING COST OF WAR

The unfolding debacle in Iraq has set off a furious — and drearily predictable — partisan dispute in Washington over who was more to blame: George W Bush or Barack Obama, writes Bill Powell

LANCE Corporal Victor Lu’s friends in his US marine unit, which fought in the brutal battle to retake the Iraqi city of Fallujah from insurgents in late 2004 — used to call him “Buddha”.

The young Vietnamese-American man was 6ft 3in tall, a black belt in Ju Si Tang Chinese kung fu, and among the physically strongest men in his unit. But the imposing strength and physique belied a gentle, affable nature. Hence the nickname, which Lu liked so much he scribbled it onto the back of his Kevlar vest.