GIVEN THE OUTCOME THIS APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN ONE COLLOSSAL BLUNDER.

Meanwhile, in Najaf, about 100 miles south of Baghdad, U.S. forces arrested Abdul Munim Abud, a former army colonel who was named acting mayor over two months ago by the U.S. military. Abud, who was detained with 61 of his aides, was charged with kidnapping, stealing government funds, attacking a bank official and pressuring government employees to commit financial crimes, an official with the U.S.-led occupation authority said.

Abud, who presented himself to U.S. forces as a well-connected and skilled administrator, was appointed by the military commander in Najaf shortly after U.S. troops established control of the city in April. Although the move angered a conclave of clerics in Najaf who are the spiritual leaders of Iraq's Shiites, U.S. military officials had refused to remove him.

"We've always said we'll make mistakes as this process goes on,'' the official with the occupation authority said. ``Given how he's behaved, it was a mistake.''

But I don't have a better idea under the circumstances.

Two steps forward, one step back.

Read it all here.