Insurgents Kill Iraq's Counter-Insurgency Chief

The assassination on Monday of Iraq's new counter insurgency coordinator is a sign of either how inept, or now undermanned is the fledgling Iraqi security administration:

An insurgent squad shot dead the commander of Iraq's new counter-insurgency headquarters as he drove to work Monday in Baghdad, as US and Iraqi troops conducted a massive sweep for insurgents.

Major General Wael Rubaye, the new commander of a special operations room recently set up by the ministry for national security to coordinate the fight against insurgents, and his driver were shot dead by insurgents in the capital early Monday, the cabinet office said in a statement. Insurgents killer squads have repeatedly targetted senior police and army officers, along with civil servants, in the capital over the past weeks. [Middle East Online]

If they can't protect him, what kind of mess are they in?

The Arab media report above makes quite clear the pivotal role of Rubaye in counter-insurgency, but scrambling to downplay the severity of the blow, the London Independent describes Rubay merely as a 'security advisor':

The commander of an Iraqi counter-terrorism unit has been assassinated in a further demonstration of the insurgency's penetration of government structures on a day that saw massive loss of life across Iraq.

Maj-Gen Wael al-Rubaye, a security adviser to the Iraqi cabinet was shot dead while being driven to work.... [Independent]