BAGHDAD, Iraq -- In perhaps the boldest and most sophisticated attack in four years of warfare, gunmen speaking English, wearing U.S. military uniforms and carrying American weapons abducted four U.S. soldiers last week at the provincial headquarters in the Shiite holy city of Karbala and then shot them to death.
The U.S. military confirmed a report earlier Friday by The Associated Press that three of the soldiers were dead and one was mortally wounded with a gunshot to the head when they were found in a neighboring province, about 25 miles from the compound where they were captured. A fifth soldier was killed in the initial attack on the compound.
The new account contradicted a U.S. military statement on Jan. 20, the day of the raid on an Iraqi governor's office, that five soldiers were killed "repelling" the attack.
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So, the enemy can get U.S. uniforms and SUVs? Wonder where they got those? Can you say Blackwater, Halliburton, or KBR operators running a black market business on the side?
Which brings me to the next question, or back to the first. Who's in charge? How can these guys get into a U.S. base, take 4 soldiers, and get out alive? The most formal schooling I got in strategy and tactics was NCO Leadership School, in the Air Force that instruction was thin at best, and I know well enough that if you can't protect your troops, your battle is lost. If the enemy can commandeer your equipment and enter, and leave, your bases with impunity, kidnapping your people while they're there, you're doing something very wrong.
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The brazen assault, 50 miles south of Baghdad, was conducted by nine to 12 gunmen posing as an American security team, the military confirmed. The attackers traveled in black GMC Suburban vehicles -- the type used by U.S. government convoys -- had American weapons, wore new U.S. military combat fatigues, and spoke English, according to two senior U.S. military officials as well as Iraqi officials.
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Pulling off an op of this nature is no small feat. The insurgent force is getting better, more proficient in their fieldcraft and we are going to pay a heavier price as they hone their skills farther.
As I mused above, this operation hints they're getting help from someone with deeper resources than these guys have had in the past. Don't think they got those Suburbans on their own, unless things are far worse than we can envision. Somehow, I don't think the Iranians are involved, at least not past the financing of it. This reeks of an inside operative, or more than one, in a capacity to hide the fact these vehicles 'disappeared'.
Somebody, probably one of the 'contractors' has been infiltrated. Remember what I said about mercenaries the other day? Do you think they care where the money comes from? A mercenary is only loyal to his current employer and if more money comes along, he'll gladly switch allegiance. There's a mercenary presence in Iraq the size of our military force; I'll bet more than one of them have been seduced by money from the other side. Mercenaries don't keep score by the amount of battles won, they do it by the size of their bank accounts.
So, we have contractors we can't trust, probably, and military commanders who, it seems, couldn't pass Force Defense 101. Guess who loses? The guys who they found in the Suburban with 9mm headaches. The ineptitude here is gross and criminal and if it weren't so sad and tragic, it would be laughable.
This is the state of the Iraq War and Occupation at this point, and we want to send 20,000 more of our kids into that mess. To a place where they are, it seems, sitting ducks for whatever the insurgents can think up. It's one thing where the draft-dodging and war-avoiding civilian leaders botch shit so horribly, but it's worse when the officer corps is just as inept.
I've said on numerous occasions that our Army and Marine Corps are at the breaking point. This incident illustrates just how broken they are. The good officers have probably separated from the service, or have been cashiered for speaking out against these moronic policies, at their first opportunity and all that are left are ball-licking toadys* who agree with the White House's stupid machinations.
This occupation has to be ended now. Every American soldier there has a bullseye on his chest and now the insurgents see our bases offer us no sanctuary. They're handing out hunting licenses now. It's time to leave before they run us out.
Update:
Speaking of broken, Brother Lurch notices the Army's getting desperate:
... Things are much worse now, and bodies that breathe now and then are probably maxing their PT and rifle range scores via the Mark II pencil.
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