A US soldier stationed at Camp Liberty in Baghdad has allegedly killed five fellow soldiers and wounded three others at a stress clinic which has been set up to handle cases of psychological problems.  

Already there has been an eruption of news articles with revelations about conditions on the US military and the increasing stress that servicemen are under from these long years of war.  Five soldiers in Iraq try to kill themselves every day.  Sexual assault cases are up 26%.  A 2007 FBI report on gang activity found members of virtually every known gang to be present in the military. 

In mundane astrology, the study of planetary events on events and nations, the military is represented by Mars.  Mars in the US progressed chart has been sitting prominently in the tenth house of the US natal chart since 1942 reflecting the power of the military (Mars) in United States government (tenth house).  The crossing of progressed Mars over the US Midheaven coincides with the dramatic transformation of the military from a small defensive force to a large military industrial complex.  

The US progressed Mars turned retrograde in the summer of 2006, just as one of the main architects of the Iraq war, Donald Rumsfeld, resigned from his post as Secretary of Defense.  The country has not been able to regain its footing since 2003 when the Iraq war began, and many astrologers (including this one) feel that the retrograde turn of the US Progressed Mars marks the weakening of the United States as a military power.

When Uranus enters Aries and begins to square Pluto in Capricorn, it is extremely likely that we will see the real military power lies in the splinter groups and radical fringe groups (Uranus) who will by then have access to sophisticated weaponry (Aries) as they face off against the establishment (Capricorn).  

At this time, when Chiron and Neptune are causing all of us to reach into the depths of our souls for answers, this event that occurred today is a symbol for the underlying disease (Chiron) that has caused us to lose our way (Neptune).