Steve Gilliard wrote what struck me as the most insightful take on the execution of almost 50 “cadets” or whatever they’re called in Orwellian-Iraqi – semi-“trained” Iraqi National Guards today:
They were betrayed by a member of that unit.
There is simply no other way 50 soldiers are massacred like this.
How many guerillas showed up to do this? A hundred? Or did the unit turn on each other? Something really bad happened here, something which screams total and complete lack of operational security. This was no accident and it was not happenstance.
Whoever waited for these men, waited with the full knowledge that they were coming and prepared to send a rather stark, brutal message.
Not only that soldiers are not safe, but that we can find you and kill you anywhere you go.
This kind of thing requires precise timing and serious force, enough to kill them in a fire fight. This may be the single most stunning guerilla attack of the war, and a real demonstration of strength. These were armed soldiers, trained soldiers and they walked into an ambush and were murdered. Yet, they were so trapped, they couldn’t resist and were shot. How does that happen to soldiers?
Stunning.
“It appears that they were ambushed by a large, well-organized force with good intelligence,” the source said.
Duh.
UPDATE: Spies suspected in Iraq police massacre
Duh.