An inside job....

Or at least that's what it seems like to me....

The US military has finally provided details of five U.S. soldiers killed in a sophisticated attack in southern Iraq last week.

Originally, the military had stated that five soldiers in Karbala died fending off the Jan. 20 attack on a provincial security building, but details of what happened were not released.

Now, it appears that four of the soldiers were kidnapped, handcuffed and executed by Iraqis wearing US gear, equipped with American weapons and with full documentation allowing them to get through checkpoints.


"The attackers went straight to where the Americans were located in the provincial government facility, bypassing the Iraqi police in the compound," Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad, said in a statement. "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."

U.S. and Iraqi soldiers were at a provincial security headquarters discussing safety for pilgrims participating in an annual religious ceremony when the jihadis got past ther checkpoints and stormed the building.

"The armed militants wore American-looking uniforms and carried U.S.-type weapons convincing Iraqi checkpoints to allow their passage," the statement said. (`militants'?)

In other words, the jihadis knew exactly where the Americans were, when they would be there, and had the means to get to them easily.

One soldier was killed and three were wounded by a hand grenade thrown into the main office, which includes the headquarters of the provincial police chief.

"The Iraqis in the meeting were not harmed or even touched," an Iraqi military official said.

Now, does that smell, or what?

Once they had the captives in hand the jihadis were able to take the the captured soldiers from Karbala dozens of miles to Babil province, confidently driving past at least one checkpoint.

"The vehicles did not stop at checkpoints, they drove right through them," said an Iraqi military officer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Just as if it was all previously arranged, hmmmmm?

Our troops ended up being murdered execution-style:

"Two soldiers were found handcuffed together in the back of one of the SUVs," the U.S. military statement said. "Both had suffered gunshot wounds and were dead. A third soldier was found shot and dead on the ground. Nearby, the fourth soldier was still alive, despite a gunshot wound to the head."

The fourth soldier died en route to the hospital.

This was a setup in my opinion, with our soldiers,who were embedded and involved in training the Iraqis set up by our `allies'.

Just the other day, I heard ABC's Terry McCarthy, one of the better reporters on theground inIraq talking about how most of our troops were increasingly wary of the Iraqi police and soldiers, particularly the Shiites, and were reluctant to follow up on tips to take out jihadis because they were afraid of being set up for ambushes.

I've heard the same thing from some of our guys in Iraq.