Iraq Takes Over Prison —and 4 Inmates Escape

Lock the cells, please: US and Iraq made a big deal of it earlier this month when the American military turned over control of the last US-run prison in the country. (See summary here.) But within a matter of days, four prisoners—three of them high-ranking members of the prominent Islamic State of Iraq insurgent group—escaped, reports the New York Times.

It looks like they got help from the warden and a handful of guards, none of whom have returned to work since. What's worse, such escapes are happening with "maddening frequency" at Iraqi-run facilities, write Timothy Williams and Omar-al-Jawoshy. "Institutions are being handed over to a political system in disarray," and no government is in place 5 months after elections. (More Iraq war stories.)