I meant to write about this a few days earlier.
Four American soldiers were kidnapped and executed last week by a group of people driving five American-government-style SUVs, wearing American uniforms, using American weapons and, according to some reports, speaking perfect English.
Following an attack on a compound in Karbala:
They drove into a neighbouring province and then abandoned the SUVs.
Iraqi police, by now in pursuit, found the vehicles.
Two US soldiers were found handcuffed together in one of the SUVs, shot dead.
A third American soldier lay dead on the ground.
The fourth was still alive despite a gunshot wound to the head but died shortly afterwards.
Such a brazen attack is believed to be unprecedented, and the US military say the militants bypassed Iraqi police to reach their goal.
It is not surprising that a military effort rife with unsupervised contracters is leaky as hell. If USB drives from inside secure areas can turn up in public markets in Kabul, it's not a stretch to think that insurgents could pick up all the trappings of an American nonmilitary convoy.
And notice that they were pretty cavalier about ditching those SUVs, so they certainly expect to be able to acquire more.
The legacy of the Bush-Bremer-Wolfowitz-Cheney-Rumsfeld half-assed approach to war and occupation continues to murder our soldiers.