Grave implications of the Karbala raid

It seems the US authorities were not eager for the US public (or anyone else) to know the details of the lethally effective raid mounted against US occupation forces in Karbala last Saturday.
These details clearly indicate the size and creativity of the unit that undertook the attack, as well as the existence of significant collaboration between the anti-US attackers and members of the “Iraqi security forces” who were co-deployed with the targeted Americans at the “Provincial Joint Coordination Center” (PJCC) in Karbala.
There are a number of significant layers to this story. One is, it seems, the ineffectiveness of the attempt the US forces have been making to establish “information dominance” over the whole of the Iraqi area of operations…
But first, let’s go to what today’s WaPo story reported about the raid:

The armored sport-utility vehicles whisked into a government compound in the city of Karbala with speed and urgency, the way most Americans and foreign dignitaries travel along Iraq’s treacherous roads these days.
Iraqi guards at checkpoints waved them through Saturday afternoon because the men wore what appeared to be legitimate U.S. military uniforms and badges, and drove cars commonly used by foreigners, the provincial governor said…
After arriving at the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, 60 miles southwest of Baghdad, the attackers detonated sound bombs, Iraqi officials said. “They wanted to create a panic situation,” said an aide to Karbala Gov. Akeel al-Khazaali, who described the events with the governor’s permission but on condition of anonymity because he fears reprisals.
The men then stormed into a room where Americans and Iraqis were making plans to ensure the safety of thousands of people expected to visit the holy city for an upcoming holiday.
“They didn’t target anyone but the American soldiers,” the governor’s aide said.
After the attack, the assailants returned to their vehicles and drove away. It was unclear how many people participated, and the men’s identities and motive remained unclear, but the attack was particularly striking because of the resources and sophistication involved, Iraqi officials said.
The men drove off toward the city of Babil, north of Karbala, where they shot at guards at a checkpoint, said Capt. Muthana Ahmad, a police spokesman. Vehicles later recovered contained three bodies and one injured individual. The U.S. military took possession of the vehicles, the spokesman said…
Saturday’s attack appeared to present a new danger to authorities in Iraq: assailants who disguise themselves as officials and travel in convoys.
“The way it happened and the new style, the province has not seen before,” said Abdul al-Yasri, head of the provincial council in Karbala.

I don’t know how long that PJCC had been operating in Karbala… Or indeed, if it is still operating today? But very evidently, what happened there Saturday was a massive breach of security… And the fact the assailants were able to drive their multiple vehicles out of the compound after the attack without incident indicates– perhaps even more strongly than the fact that they were able to get into it so easily– that they most likely had a number of confederates among the Iraqi security personnel working there.
Which presumably was a major reason why the US authorities in Baghdad did not want to divulge the details of the attack too widely.
The US military’s press release about the attack, issued yesterday, said only this:

The Provincial Joint Coordination Center (PJCC) in Karbala was attacked with grenades, small arms and indirect fires by an illegally armed militia group Jan 20. Five U.S. Soldiers were killed and three wounded while repelling the attack.
Initial reporting by some media outlets indicated falsely that the attack was conducted by Coalition forces…
“The attack on the Karbala Provincial Joint Coordination Center was aimed at Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces working together toward a better future for the citizens of Karbala,” said Lt. Col. Scott R. Bleichwehl, Spokesperson for Multi-National Division-Baghdad.
The location has been secured by Coalition and Iraqi security forces…

Today’s waPo account says this:

U.S. military officials said Sunday that they could not discuss the attack in Karbala in detail because it remained under investigation. But they said the version of events provided by the governor’s office was consistent with their preliminary findings.

This a serious admission. It is an admission, in effect, that Bleichwehl and his fellow officers– who are, of course, extremely strongly concerned about the wellbeing of all the US soldiers in the field in Iraq– are unable to hide the fact that some members of an Iraqi unit co-deployed with those Americans were most likely complicit in the anti-US action, while the others were either unwilling or unable to intervene to foil the attack.
Bush’s new “surge” plan for Greater Baghdad– and the whole of the US counterinsurgency effort in Iraq– depends crucially on effecting a large increase in mthe numbers of US soldiers co-deployed with members of the “Iraqi security forces.”
But the news from Karbala– which is only the latest, though perhaps the most serious, incident in which Iraqis co-deployed with Americans have apparently given aid to anti-US attackers– is likely to make the US commanders in Baghdad, Qatar, and Washington more wary than ever about such co-deployments. “Force protection”, that is, the protection of the lives and wellbeing of their own soldiers, has been the overwhelming mission of the US deployment in Iraq all along, and has been pursued even at the cost of risking the lives of much greater numbers of Iraqi soldiers or civilians.
Given the US public’s strong concern about US casualties, this emphasis on force protection is, perhaps, politically understandable. In announcing the most recent “surge”, Bush has tried to signal that the US public might need to accept that there could be some increased US casualties during its early phases– but he “promised” us, as well, that these would not last for long…
But all in all, for the Bushites, it’s an extremely inopportune time for detailed news about an attack like the one in Karbala to get out and be disseminated to a wide US readership.
And yet, they proved unable to suppress the news. This, primarily because the Karbala provincial governor was apparently unwilling to participate in their cover-up…
Which is an indication of the Bushites’ large and continuing political problems in Iraq, as well.
Update, Mon. 4:45 p.m.:
IraqSlogger had these additional details, from Az-Zaman:

According to Az-Zaman, the armed men who executed the operation wore the uniforms of the American Army, and rode in ten GMC jeeps. After the operation, the American forces prevented the governor and the municipal board members from entering the hall, but the governor held a press conference in his home, where he described the attack and said that the armed men came from “a neighboring province”. Az-Zaman interviewed a guard in the Police building who said that the attackers “came in an official visit”, but when they were intercepted, the attackers “took the weapons and phones” of the guards and asked them to lie on the ground. The guard added that the attackers executed the operation and left in a short period of time, destroying an American Hummer before they departed. The Americans were in yard of the building when the attack occurred, and no casualties were reported among the attackers, the newspaper added.