A new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds that just 12% of Americans said that they or someone they know was wounded in the Iraq war and only 6% said they know someone who was killed in the Iraq War.

While 52% of Americans said they at least know someone who served in combat in Iraq, 44% reported no personal connection at all to those who did the fighting and dying there.

“A dozen car bombs and suicide blasts tore into Shi’ite districts in Baghdad and south of the Iraqi capital on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people on the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein,” Reuters reports.

Washington Post: “Haunted by the ghosts of its brutal past, Iraq is teetering between
progress and chaos, a country threatened by local and regional conflicts
that could drag it back into the sustained bloodshed its citizens know
so well.”

British and U.S. intelligence agencies “were informed by top sources months before the invasion that Iraq had no active WMD programme, and that the information was not passed to subsequent inquiries,” according to the Guardian.

First Read notes the effect of the Iraq war on American politics “can’t be understated, even 10 years later.”

“Without Iraq, there would be no President Obama. He rode Iraq to the nomination, making it the most important distinction he had with Hillary Clinton. Shoot, John Kerry isn’t the nominee in 2004 were it not for Iraq and the Democrats’ urgency at the time to find someone with war credentials as their standard-bearer. Iraq changed a lot in American politics. And that’s why the anniversary is important.”

A new Gallup poll finds that 53% of Americans believe the United States “made a mistake sending troops to fight in Iraq” while 42% say it was not a mistake.

Ten years after the start of the Iraq war, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds nearly six in 10 Americans say the war was not worth fighting. Nearly as many say the same about the war in Afghanistan.

A key reason: “A substantial sense that neither war did much to achieve their goals of enhancing U.S. security. Only about half of Americans say either war contributed to the long-term security of the United States, and just two in 10 say either contributed “a great deal” to U.S. security – clearly insufficient, in the minds of most, to justify their costs in lives and lucre.”

Army staff sergeant Tonya Long “pleaded guilty to stealing at least $1 million and shipping the cash in hundred-dollar bills to the U.S. in the guts of hollowed-out VCR players,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

Said Long: “I cannot express how sorry I am… I chose to betray my country and my family.”

She did not ask for mercy, telling a judge, “because I don’t deserve it.”

Wonk Wire: Iraq war could end up costing $6 trillion.

“It’s complicated.”

— Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, quoted by the New York Times, when asked about his trip to Afghanistan to meet with Afghan leaders.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel returns from a three-day visit to Afghanistan that was “marred by a suicide bombing and security threats, a canceled news conference that was expected to highlight progress in the war, and heated accusations by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that the U.S. military was colluding with the Taliban to prolong the American troop presence,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

“Even worse, Hagel returns to an in-box full of troubles in Washington. First on the list: how to absorb $47 billion in budget cuts mandated by Congress this year, with more trims to come.”

“Hagel has seemed low-key and at times unsure of himself since he won a bitter Senate confirmation battle Feb. 27. His reaction to his early burdens is tough to gauge, but he has yet to show the sparks that earned him maverick status when he served as a Republican senator from Nebraska who took controversial positions and issued blunt assessments, no matter the consequences.”

“At a time when $46 billion in mandatory budget cuts are causing anxiety at the Pentagon, administration officials see one potential benefit: there may be an opening to argue for deep reductions in programs long in President Obama’s sights, and long resisted by Congress,” the New York Times reports.

“On the list are not only base closings but also an additional reduction in deployed nuclear weapons and stockpiles and a restructuring of the military medical insurance program that costs more than America spends on all of its diplomacy and foreign aid around the world. Also being considered is yet another scaling back in next-generation warplanes, starting with the F-35, the most expensive weapons program in United States history.”

U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who lost out in a bruising bid for the job of secretary of state, “has emerged as far and away the front-runner to succeed Thomas Donilon as President Obama’s national security adviser later this year,” the Washington Post reports.

“The job would place her at the nexus of foreign-policy decision making and allow her to rival the influence of Secretary of State John F. Kerry in shaping the president’s foreign policy.”

“The appointment would mark a dramatic twist of fortune for Rice, whose prospects to become the country’s top diplomat fizzled last year after a round of television appearances in which she provided what turned out to be a flawed account of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.”

An aide to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) defended the senator’s criticism of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and his filibuster this week, BuzzFeed reports.

Said the aide: “Senator McCain is obviously well aware of the politics of this — he just doesn’t care. He’s doing what he thinks is right. Unlike many of these guys, he’s actually been involved in a few national security debates over the years. He knows that jumping on the Rand Paul black helicopters crazytrain isn’t good for our Party or our country, no matter what Twitter says.”

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in the Afghan capital “to take stock of America’s winding-down war in Afghanistan, one of the thorniest issues the new Pentagon chief will confront,” the Washington Post reports.

“The trip, which was not announced in advance due to security concerns, comes at a delicate time. U.S. officials continue to debate the role and mission the United States should aspire to have in Afghanistan in the long run — a process that has become knottier as Karzai has sought to rein in the authority of American troops in recent weeks.”

The Senate voted 63 to 34 to confirm John Brennan as head of the CIA, Roll Call reports.

“Immediately preceding his confirmation, the Senate voted 81-16 to overcome an attempted filibuster of the nomination. Sixty votes were needed, but that hurdle was easily met when Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) dropped his hold on Brennan. Paul did so after Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. acceded to his demand to answer whether the president could order a drone strike against a U.S. citizen on American soil.”

“It seemed to be kind of spontaneous. People just started coming to the
floor, first the other senators and then like 15 or 20 congressman came
over, and that doesn’t happen very often, so we were pretty excited
about that.”

— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by Politico, on the support for his filibuster of John Brennan’s nomination to head the CIA.

“A son-in-law of Osama bin Laden and longtime suspected member of al Qaeda has been captured by U.S. officials, who are preparing to bring him to the U.S. to face charges,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“One of the oldest and most storied traditions of the Senate made a sudden return to Capitol Hill on Wednesday when a junior senator seized control of the chamber with an hours-long ­filibuster involving rambling speeches aimed at blocking a vote on President Obama’s choice to lead the CIA,” the Washington Post reports.

“Led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) with help from other junior senators, the filibuster stretched nearly 13 hours — with the Senate adjourning at about 12:40 a.m. Thursday — and was aimed at drawing attention to deep concern on both sides of the aisle about the administration’s use of unmanned aerial drones in its fight against terrorists and whether the government would ever use them in the United States.”

John Avlon: “Instead of resorting to cheap filibuster tricks like reading the dictionary or a phonebook, Paul delivered a real speech–albeit Castro-esque in length–discussing the constitutional principles at stake more or less off the top of his head for nearly 13 hours.”