What next?

Agents for deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein have penetrated the U.S. command in Iraq, ABCNEWS has learned. As a result, they have the potential to undermine U.S. authority.  article

"Penetrate". Interesting choice of words.

Well, they didn't have to try very hard to "penetrate", from what I can tell. After all, we just trained 700 soldiers, 300 of whom "quit". We just invite them in. We think they're going to think like we do - have the same drives and needs. Hey, they're really just like us - they want what we've got - they'll be happy to be Middle East America. (And, frankly, we are in a damned hurry to get out of there now.)

Holy cow. I think somebody should have been doing a little more homework during those 12 years of sanctions.

Among the documents found in Saddam's briefcase when he was captured last weekend was a list of names of Iraqis who have been working with the United States — either in the Iraqi security forces or the Coalition Provisional Authority — and are feeding information to the insurgents, a U.S. official told ABCNEWS.

On the other hand, it couldn't be that we're actually outsmarted over there by people who know their country and their cutlure in ways we didn't even try to understand.

Not that I don't believe Saddam's agents could have "penetrated" U.S. command, but I bet there's a whole list of things that could be found in that briefcase.

The United States has been rapidly recruiting Iraqis to take over security in the war-torn nation. Some 162,000 Iraqis have been trained in the areas of civil defense, police and other security activities since May.

On a recent trip to Baghdad, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was told by the commander of the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division that every two or three weeks the military discovers someone who should not have made it through the vetting process.

Well, that's encouraging news.

Pentagon officials with whom ABCNEWS spoke were not surprised about the infiltration. It is a common tactic that certainly happened in Vietnam, they said. But what they continue to worry about are infiltrators whose names are not on the list.

Okay, you add your own comments to that one.

....or do what you want....you will anyway.