[BlackVeil]

That sounds very organized.

It does. And bold. They rode into the city on big jeeps bristling with weapons, and attacked the station. This follows yesterday's raid, when they missed the US commander, but all the attackers got away. I bet they are ex-Iraqi army.

[Prodigal Son]

Do you think it was just an attack or do you think the attack was specifically to get the prisoners out? That's the aspect that troubled me. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like there must've been someone in there they wanted badly to get out. So much so that they would go to this extent.

Obviously, this was a well planned mission and was executed successfully. You'd have to drill a bunch of guys quite a lot to get that sort of result. Al Qaeda has trained on these sort of tactics in the past.

[archy]

That sounds very organized.

It does. And bold. They rode into the city on big jeeps bristling with weapons, and attacked the station. This follows yesterday's raid, when they missed the US commander, but all the attackers got away. I bet they are ex-Iraqi army.

Or a very extended family, with some poarticularly loyal AND well-equipped cousins and in-laws.