From Jim Henley last night we read the following:

Let’s add it up. “Two teams of up to 30 Fedayeen.” That’s somewhere south of 60 guerrillas.

54 dead militants. That’s a kill ratio of 90%. That’s absurd for a running firefight in an urban setting, which is what this was. (Again, I’m correctible on this.) I’m pretty sure that an attacking force should generally “break” at the 30% casualty level if not before.

But worst of all: “Up to 60” minus 54 is – six. Tops. Brigadier General Kimmitt is telling us that 6 guys carried off 54 bodies. General Kimmitt is full of shit. Or else the reporting on this is really bad. Or both.

Things seem to get a bit more complicated this morning:

The only corpses at Samarra’s hospital were those of civilians, including two elderly Iranian visitors and a child.

A top military commander acknowledged on Monday that the toll was based entirely on estimates gleaned from troop debriefings and that US soldiers had not recovered a single body from the scene of Sunday?s clashes. …

Hospital director Abd Tawfiq said ?more than 60 people wounded by gunfire and shrapnel from US rounds are being treated at the hospital?.

Meanwhile, in the winning hearts and minds department:

??If I had a gun, I would have attacked the Americans myself,?? said Satar Nasiaf, 47, a shopkeeper who said he watched two Iraqi civilians fall to American fire. ?”The Americans were shooting in every direction.”

We don’t know what happened, but it sounds like no one knows for sure either.

Update: Blair sends us this story from The Independent with more (conflicting) information. Thanks Blair!