Michelle Malkin is rightly outraged over a leak that has exposed the names of American servicemen in Iraq involved in the Giuliana Sgrena incident, and much more. The PDF file has been published by the Italian media, and lists not just the names of the men cleared in the accidental death of Nicola Calipari, but also the following strategic information:

* An itemization of IEDs and VBIEDs deployment techniques which have been most effective,
* An analysis of the tactical strengths and weaknesses of specific checkpoints along "Route Irish",

* Combat readiness assesment of the units and soldiers involved,

* A detailed description of how the checkpoint is laid out,

* Exact grid locations of various assets.

* Details of how checkpoint searches are set up and executed

* Details of how checkpoints are expected to deal with approaching vehicles, including threat assesment methods.

* A statistical analysis of "normal" traffic approaching the checkpoint.

* It names the soldiers involved and details the specific actions taken by those soldiers. It names the soldier who killed Calipari.

In other words, its release likely will mean that Iraqi insurgents can now tailor their attacks to the American strategies for defense at our checkpoints, which will not only result in more Americans getting killed, but also more innocent people as a result of even further confusion as rules of engagement have to be changed. Idiots like Kevin Drum might find this a cause for celebration, but anyone with a brain should understand why this information was redacted in the first place -- and why it should have remained so.

UPDATE: Austin Bay has an excellent analysis of the document.

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» Italian Idiots - Update XVII from Flopping Aces
The report has been released and did someone screw the pooch bad. The person who classified the document redacted the portions that needed to be hidden but did not understand Adobe Acrobat to well. [Read More]

Tracked on May 1, 2005 7:20 PM

» The report on the Sgrena incident from The Age of Unreason
I have read the leaked version of the report discussed here by Captain Ed and here by Michelle Malkin. The thing that strikes me on reading the report is just how open the Americans have been. Sure they redacted some things but those things that w... [Read More]

Tracked on May 1, 2005 8:09 PM