Desertions

For the last three days many newspapers have been trying to sort out just exactly how many Iraq soldiers and policeman deserted during the Basra battle. The numbers are all over the place. It's apparent that no one really knows, including the Iraqi government.

It seems to me that the fact they don't know is just about as telling as the number that deserted. The Iraq government appears to be as incompetent as the U.S. government and has no idea of it's strength force or has any real command and control of the military.

In the meantime, Maliki seems to be continuing a covert war against al Sadr, and al Sadr is getting tired of it.