"Retired Gen. John Keane, back from a fact-finding trip to Iraq, told The Hill that he thinks the Iraqi guerrilla opposition is planning "spectacular" attacks to derail th political process in the country. His thesis was given some support by events on Wednesday."

"In the on-again, off-again saga of the Shiite hostages of Madaen, evidence surfaced Wednesday that the hostages had indeed been taken. The guerrillas who captured them appear to have executed them and dumped the bodies in the Tigris, according to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

It seems likely that this tragedy in part implicates the heavy-handed response of Iraqi and US forces to the hostage crisis. They just dispatched troops to Madaen, which is always a good way to send the hostage-takers into a panic and get the hostages killed."
Juan Cole

I wonder what exactly Juan Cole would think the correct response to insurgents taking over a whole town, really is?