[boxerblues]

No Iraqi soldiers, policemen or officials were hurt in the attack. The attackers knew about the timing and location of the meeting and they were certainly not al-Qaeda fighters or Sunni insurgents. I mean why would al-Qaeda or Sunni insurgents risk making the very dangerous trip to the heart of Kerbala to kill American soldiers while they could’ve inflicted more casualties by planting a few IED’s in the streets of places they control? Plus, they wouldn’t have spared the lives of the Iraqis in the building.
If I remember well, some time ago the head of the provincial council was arrested under charges of terrorism, so the local authority in Kerbala isn’t exactly trustworthy. The governor said there was a security breach but what I smell here is the stench of an inside job at the highest levels in Kerbala.
Like I said earlier, this was not just a brazen attack by some militia or terrorists; behind this is a message and a threat from Iran and its surrogates to turn even the calm parts of Iraq into a dangerous war zone for America and the government in Baghdad

From what I know but cannot say right now is this blogger has nailed it.

[Steel Wolf]

Like I said earlier, this was not just a brazen attack by some militia or terrorists; behind this is a message and a threat from Iran and its surrogates to turn even the calm parts of Iraq into a dangerous war zone for America and the government in Baghdad

It's a veiled threat, and a very credible one. If anyone thinks that this threat doesn't throw cold water on any planned attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, think again. They can turn Iraq into a mid 80's Lebanon in no time.

This is simply their way of saying that we can reach out and touch you whenever we want.

[fishergirl]

One of the SUV's found had a license plate reportedly stolen from an Iraqi M.P. - Abdul Falah al-Sudani, a member of the Shiite Muslim Dawa party. The plate was stolen off his BMW in the heavily fortified Green Zone. Just gets curiouser and curiouser. Prayers for your son and his fellow soldiers, God bless them all.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Karbala has been in the news before....this might be of interest ...date is 2005:

Iran’s intelligence service “occupies” key Iraq city [Karbala]