The Zong

Just about to sign off for the weekend, and here comes this somber report.

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.

This is certainly not the kind of thing that boosts troop morale as their numbers surge, via a plan that has been condemned all week by legislators from both parties. It appears that the military tried to supress details of the attack after initially reporting that the soldiers were killed “repelling” an attack. Most disturbing, however, is the apparent sophistication and coordination of the attack.

Within hours of the AP report that four of the five dead soldiers had been abducted and found dead or dying about 25 miles east of Karbala, the military issued a long account of what took place.

“The precision of the attack, the equipment used and the possible use of explosives to destroy the military vehicles in the compound suggests that the attack was well rehearsed prior to execution,” said Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, spokesman for Multi-National Division-Baghdad.

“The attackers went straight to where Americans were located in the provincial government facility, bypassing the Iraqi police in the compound,” he said. “We are looking at all the evidence to determine who or what was responsible for the breakdown in security at the compound and the perpetration of the assault.”

Our military efforts to this point haven’t prevented a coordinated assault like this on a government facility almost four years into the war, and the insurgents seem to be getting better at attacking us. Still, we’re supposed to believe that there is some crucial advantage to be gained by sending a few more brigades into this quagmire.

- M.G.