Fake Iraq story was published yesterday

In the Sunday Times, under the title 'Fighting the insurgents in Baghdad USA'

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/men/article4873489.ece

"...Since March 2003, more than 4,100 US soldiers have been killed and over 30,000 wounded in a war the army simply wasn’t prepared for. Suicide bombs, IEDs and snipers wrought havoc in regiments that were ill equipped for urban warfare. Civilians suffered too, as troops with little understanding of local languages and culture sometimes adopted heavy-handed tactics.

The solution? Create a fake Iraq where soldiers could learn and make mistakes without adding to the casualty figures. And so the idea of the “Iraq simulation” was born – 13 typical Iraqi (and Afghan) villages scattered across the Mojave desert at Fort Irwin. The villages would offer troops a range of realistic training scenarios, from foot patrols to clearing underground caves..."