U.S. Helping Manhunt in Iraq?

Is the U.S. helping the hunt for the hundreds of escaped al'Qa'ida members currently on the loose in Iraq after Sunday night's jailbreak?

Yes, according to Pentagon press secretary George Little, although he wouldn't say how, only saying DOD counterterrorism officials are "monitoring the situation and are maintaining close ties with their counterparts in Baghdad," and that U.S. troops are definitely not engaging in any "direct military involvement" with Iraqi forces.

Soooo . . . what's the over/under on how many al-Qa'ida in Iraq emirs we can catch strictly through drone surveillance, SIGINT, and processing HUMINT provided by the Iraqis in our analytic databases? (I'm not being cynical, here, I swear. If not for the potentially high stakes of so many trained terrorists on the loose, this would be a really interesting experiment in coordinating our remote assets with an indigenous proxy force for manhunting purposes).

But don't worry, because Little added that a small influx of AQI gunmen into Syria is "not necessarily going to tip the balance" of power in Syria's ongoing civil war.

Phew! (Okay, now I am being cynical . . . )