Defeated Iraqi Army Frees Journalist, Conducts House to House Searches in Basra
April 15th, 2008 at 06:21am Mark Noonan
Desperately on the run from Sadr’s all powerful militia, the Iraqi army has been reduced to this:
BAGHDAD (AP) - A kidnapped British journalist was rescued by Iraqi troops on Monday after two months in captivity in the southern city of Basra, the Iraqi military said.
Richard Butler, who worked for CBS News, was found with a sack over his head and his hands tied inside a house in Basra, Lt. Gen. Mohan al-Fireji said. He said Butler was in good condition.
Butler was found during an Iraqi military sweep in the Jibiliya area, a Shiite militia stronghold in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad…
…In recent days, Iraqi forces have started house-to-house sweeps for arms, weapons, drugs and criminal elements in several parts of Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city. The military said it has uncovered an improvised explosive device factory, along with significant arms caches and numerous roadside bombs, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
And what was the next sentence in the MSM report?
Serious fighting in Basra abated since a failed government offensive last month to dislodge militia groups.
If the offense failed, then why is the Iraqi army doing house to house sweeps and rescuing kidnapped journalists? Shouldn’t the Sadr militia - allegedly called off just short of total victory by the peace-loving leadership of Iran - be preventing the Iraqi army from doing any such thing in Basra?
The critics of the war and the MSMers who write about it are getting more divorced from reality by the day…
Entry Filed under: War on Terror
10 Comments
1. Brook | April 15th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Deleted - off topic.
2. kjstrouble | April 15th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Um, what does that have to do with the question of how the MSM is reporting on what happened, and is happening in Basra? What is being seen in Basra is an Iraqi military that seems to be taking control - but that would constitute good news, and the MSM doesn’t seem to want to report it that way.
3. Iran » Blog Archive&hellip | April 15th, 2008 at 8:33 am
[...] Truthdig - Interviews wrote an interesting post today on Defeated Iraqi Army Frees Journalist, Conducts House to House…Here’s a quick excerpt…the Sadr militia - allegedly called off just short of total victory by the peace-loving leadership of Iran - be preventing the Iraqi army from… [...]
4. SteaM | April 15th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Yeah, you guys are right. Our media is a bunch of losers. I’d like to see them all taken captive, tortured, and beheaded. Then we can get some real American patriots in there that will report only good news…
If they don’t then they will pay with their lives.
Right?
I think I am getting the hang of this being a righty. I feel so much better already.
5. Rana Quijotesca | April 15th, 2008 at 9:28 am
less than a minute brought me to here and here…
Perhaps you should actually bother to… you know… look… before you bitch about the Mainstream Media
6. Pain | April 15th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Deleted - off topic.
7. JPL | April 15th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
“Perhaps you should actually bother to… you know… look… before you bitch about the Mainstream Media”
I don’t know, RQ, that same advice might apply to you. The second article you linked to actually contains the exact same quote that Mark was complaining about (namely, “Serious fighting in Basra has abated since a failed government offensive last month to dislodge militia groups”). So if the point of your post was that Mark is careless and unfair to the mainstream media, you failed to make your point.
8. SteaM | April 15th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Was it a failed government offensive or not?
9. Rana Quijotesca | April 15th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Well… it’s not “Mission Accomplished” yet… if the offensive had an objective, and it did not meet that objective… then it’s a failed offensive… a nice little tautology to round out your day…
10. Mark Noonan | April 15th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
SteaM,
No, it was not.