« Errol Morris Campaign Ads | Main | You Go, Congressman »

October 24, 2004
Fubar

Ugh. This is really just a god-awful mess.

In the single deadliest ambush of the insurgency, guerrillas dressed as police officers executed 49 freshly trained Iraqi soldiers on Saturday evening on a remote road in eastern Iraq as the unarmed soldiers were going home on leave, Iraqi officials said today.

The soldiers were pulled out of three minibuses at a fake checkpoint about 95 miles east of Baghdad, near the Iranian border, police officials said. They were told or forced to lie down on the ground in four rows, then killed mostly with bullets to their heads. The ambush, extraordinarily ambitious in scope and violence, showed a high level of organization, and the insurgents likely had inside information on the travel plans of the soldiers, who were members of the nascent Iraqi National Guard, officials said.

--snip--

American military officials have been admitting lately that insurgents have infiltrated the ranks of the new security forces and are undoubtedly passing on information. American troops have found piles of Iraqi police and guardsmen uniforms in various raids over the last several months. Reporters, including this one, often meet police officers and guardsmen across Iraq who curse the Americans and say they are willing to fight the occupation.

American troops who work with the Iraqi security forces generally say they are inept or outright hostile.

New York Times

Comments

Previous Comments