In Iraq, a disaster.

AP reports that the bodies of fifty-one Iraqi soldiers were discovered on a remote stretch of road east of Baghdad. They were travelling on leave in civilian clothes when their bus was stopped by rebels. They were all, it seems, shot in the back of the head kneeling on the roadside. On the same day, 22 further Iraqi soldiers and police were killed in bomb attacks of one sort or another.

An increasingly visible phenomenon in Iraq seems to be infiltration of the security forces. This bloodbath can hardly have been carried out without prior knowledge of the time, route and vehicles the soldiers were taking. Last week, a huge bomb was exploded outside an ING barracks exactly at the moment a shift changed, with many dead, and the ING national HQ was attacked from inside its walls. There have also been frequent reports of insurgents posing as ING/Police members (which may explain this latest disaster). Clearly, the forces that are officially to deliver a safe and secure Iraq are seriously leaky.