Fear and chaos in Baghdad

It doesn't look to me like the Iraqis will ever be able to stand up on their own. A joint US-Iraqi counterinsurgency raid turned into a rout when they walked into an ambush. The Iraqis fell apart almost immediately and Apache helicopters were ultimately called in to rescue the units. And this might explain why it's so difficult to get an accurate tally of the civilan death toll.

No count was made of the number of civilians killed in the densely populated neighborhood, but U.S. and Iraqi soldiers acknowledged a significant amount of "collateral damage."

No reconnaissance was done prior to the operation and one Army Major said they could have used two more days to plan. The Iraqi officers weren't even told about it until 3 hours before it began. Yet according to the report, "US aerial drone footage captured before the assault appeared to show the insurgents positioning themselves in preparation for the raid." Beats me why they wouldn't have reviewed that footage prior to the raid.

One US officer was philosophical about the snafu. He said, "We're not going to be here forever." If we're not going to pull our troops until the Iraqis can stand on their own, I wouldn't bet the farm on that.