Middle East Expertise in the US government. Look at this. Could it be more dumb? "The military says the soldiers were attacked at their outpost Thursday with heavy small arms fire that came from the Honest Muhammad Mosque in Tarmiyah." Honest Muhammad Mosque? Are you kidding me? Where do they get those Middle East experts and Arabic translators? You know what this is, right? Somebody at the US government was trying to be smart and they came across Muhammad As-Sadiq mosque and assumed that As-Sadiq is an adjective and not a name. So US policy in Iraq is characterized by big mistakes and small mistakes: and they all add up to a debacle. (thanks Nir)