...over 50 helicopters to put 1500 Iraqi and U.S. troops on the ground had netted 48 suspected insurgents, 17 of which had already been cleared and released. The area, explained the officials, has long been suspected of being used as a base for insurgents operating in and around Samarra, the city north of Baghdad where the bombing of a sacred shrine recently sparked a wave of sectarian violence. ... no shots fired at all and the units had met no resistance,...With the Interior Ministry's Samarra commando battalion, the soldiers had found some 300 individual pieces of weaponry like mortars, rockets and plastic explosives in six different locations inside the sparsely populated farming community of over 50 square miles and about 1,500 residents. The raids also uncovered high-powered cordless telephones used as detonators in homemade bombs, medical supplies and insurgent training manuals.OK, we have a net of 31 terrorists, met no resistance from anyone, the operation was run mostly by the Iraqi Army. No civilians harmed, a metric butt-ton of bad guy boob-boom stuff captured. And what is the spin from Time's Copperhead reporter Brian Bennett?
...no leading insurgents were nabbed in an operation that some skeptical military analysts described as little more than a photo op. ... Before loading up into the helicopters for a return trip to Baghdad, Iraqi and American soldiers and some reporters helped themselves to the woman’s freshly baked bread, tearing bits off and chewing it as they wandered among the cows. For most of them, it was the only thing worthwhile they’d found all day.By your definition or the Army personnel on the ground you interviewed.
I guess he would be much happier if they found nothing, a bunch of Americans were killed, the Iraqi Army ran away and threw off their uniforms, a couple of Blackhawks went down due to faulty maintenance, and he got live footage of civilians having electrical cables attached to their genitals. Oh, yes: he would be a lot happier.
If you like his stuff, keep throwing your cash at that magazine, or save yourself some money and read some of his buddies so popular with liberal AirAmerica type radio. Same type of crap.
Oh, the Time anger doesn't just come from me, either. I wonder if Jason will weigh in?
...and he does. Kind the final word.
