We learned this week of a horrific attack in Karbala, in which gunmen, impersonating U.S. troops, stormed a provincial governor’s office during a meeting between American and local officials, raising the nightmarish specter of American soldiers being vulnerable to attack from killers who appear to be colleagues. In this attack, the Pentagon said, five U.S. troops were killed.
As it turns out, that wasn’t true.
Contrary to public statements by the U.S. military, four U.S. soldiers did not die repelling a sneak attack at the governor’s office in the Shiite holy city of Karbala last week. New information obtained by The Associated Press shows they were abducted and found dead or dying as far as 25 miles away.
The brazen assault, 50 miles south of Baghdad on Jan. 20, was conducted by nine to 12 militants posing as an American security team. They 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.
In a written statement, the U.S. command reported at the time that five soldiers were killed while “repelling the attack.” Now, two senior U.S. military officials as well as Iraqi officials say four of the five were captured and taken from the governor’s compound alive. Three of them were found dead and one mortally wounded later that evening in locations as far as 25 miles east of the governor’s office.
As if this tragic attack weren’t sickening enough, this news adds insult to injury.
Indeed, it seems the past few days have been particularly discouraging.
There was also this story about the latest effort to retake Haifa Street in Baghdad.
As the sun rose, many of the Iraqi Army units who were supposed to do the actual searches of the buildings did not arrive on time, forcing the Americans to start the job on their own. When the Iraqi units finally did show up, it was with the air of a class outing, cheering and laughing as the Americans blew locks off doors with shotguns.
….Many of the Iraqi units that showed up late never seemed to take the task seriously, searching haphazardly, breaking dishes and rifling through personal CD collections in the apartments. Eventually the Americans realized that the Iraqis were searching no more than half of the apartments; at one point the Iraqis completely disappeared, leaving the American unit working with them flabbergasted.
“Where did they go?” yelled Sgt. Jeri A. Gillett. Another soldier suggested, “I say we just let them go and we do this ourselves.”
I understand the “they stand up, we stand down” approach, but news like this suggests we’re not likely to see any substantive results in this area for a very long time.
As for Iraqi politics, this story paints an equally discouraging picture.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s presentation of a new Baghdad security plan to the Iraqi Parliament on Thursday broke down in bitter sectarian recriminations, with Mr. Maliki threatening a Sunni Arab lawmaker with arrest and, in response, the Sunni speaker of Parliament threatening to quit.
Eventually, the tensions eased and lawmakers approved the security plan, which gives Mr. Maliki, a Shiite, more authority. But the episode provided the Iraqi public with a live televised view of the extent of raw anger dividing Shiite and Sunni politicians.
Outside of Parliament, bloody sectarian battles continued on the streets of Baghdad. Three hours after the confrontation between lawmakers, a huge car bomb killed at least 25 people in the Karrada district, less than a mile from Parliament in an area favored by leading Shiite politicians. Residents there reported a horrific scene, with two busloads of people trapped in their vehicles and burned alive.
Mr. Maliki made his threat to arrest the Sunni lawmaker shortly after promising once again that a crackdown on illegal activity and would be carried out with equal vigor in Shiite as well as Sunni communities.
The prime minister’s claim was challenged by Abdul Nasir al-Janabi, who represents a powerful Sunni Arab bloc. “We can not trust the office of the prime minister,” he said over jeers from the Shiite politicians before his microphone was cut off.
Mr. Maliki could barely contain his rage, waving his finger in the air and essentially accusing Mr. Nasir of being a criminal. “I will show you,” Mr. Maliki said. “I will turn over the documents on you” showing all your crimes, “then you can talk about trust,” Mr. Maliki said. Shiite politicians in the room erupted in applause. […]
As the prime minister continued, Shiites encouraged him on and Sunni Arabs tried to shout him down. Mr. Mashhadani yelled for everyone to “shut up.”
Freedom is on the march.