Unfriendly fire

By Libby

Major oops on this one. In an unannounced raid near Prime Minister Maliki's birthplace our guys managed to kill one of his relatives who was somehow closely involved in his personal security detail.

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Senior Iraqi government officials said Saturday that a U.S. Special Forces counterterrorism unit conducted the raid that reportedly killed a relative of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, touching off a high-stakes diplomatic crisis between the United States and Iraq.

U.S. military officials in Baghdad had no comment for the second day in a row, an unusual position for a command that typically releases information on combat operations within 24 hours.

Seems like a typical ploy to me. When it's really bad, like the Blackwater shootings, they stall for a long time so the story gets played like old news in the US media when they finally admit they fucked up. This one may not be so easy to play down though.

"This is a Special Forces operation, an antiterrorism unit that operates almost independently so there's been no coordination with the local forces on the ground," said a high-ranking member of the Iraqi government who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the extreme sensitivity of the issue. "That's why it's so important to have a Status of Forces Agreement to regulate this relationship. As long as it's vague and open, these incidents will continue to happen."

Probably wasn't the best way to win hearts and minds and it's unlikely to do much in convincing the Iraqis they should sign on to a Status of Forces Agreement that gives us carte blanche in deploying our 'residual' troops. But in a way, horrible as it is, it's good in that it will put the Iraqis in a stronger position to demand some say over US operations, which Bush will of course reject and the whole agreement could likely stall until we get a new president. That would be the best outcome for everybody.