Brazen killings stymie efforts to stabilize central Iraq

[maddezmom]

BAGHDAD: Iraqi and U.S. forces faced new difficulties Friday in trying to stabilize central Iraq, with reports of the public killing in Ramadi of two men accused of collaborating with the Americans, the revenge killing of 16 police officers in Diyala and signals of resistance to the new Baghdad security plan in Sadr City.

In Ramadi, west of Baghdad, the two men were killed during a soccer game by gunmen who claimed the players had collaborated with the Salvation Council, a group that opposes the Sunni insurgency, according to witnesses and the police.

As the sun set on Thursday, three cars carrying 10 masked men pulled up at a community field where two neighborhood teams were playing less than 100 steps from the main government building in Ramadi.

The men poured out of the cars and grabbed two of the players, Muhammad Hammed Nawaf and Muhammad Meshaan, before killing them.

more:http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/03/news/web0303.iraq.php

[bemildred]

1. Gee, who could have predicted this?

What it signals is that we are completely unable to protect Iraqis that collaborate with our stooge government. And that means that we have lost the war.