This is just stupid, stupid, stupid. Way to win hearts and minds, folks.
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by John Cole| 4 Comments
This post is in: General Stupidity
This is just stupid, stupid, stupid. Way to win hearts and minds, folks.
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Matthew
Considering that Patrick Cockburn is the author of the story this blog post is based on, and the story hasn’t been covered by any news outlets who at least pretend to be objective, I’m suspicious, very suspicious.
Joshua Martin
Actually, it’s smart, smart, smart. NRO’s The Corner has a follow-up post; turns out the trees in question are, were, being used as ambush cover at a road junction. After the locals refused to provide the identities and location of the ambushers, the military, in order to protect the lives of its member, was obligation to cut down the trees.
Would you rather American soldiers died so that some date palms might live, particularly in light of the fact that the owner(s) of said palms were sheltering, at least in some form, the killers?
Noel
We’ve been conditioned to accept the worst about our effort by reporters who often wish to see that effort fail. Even NRO jumped to ‘court- martial’ initially. This story is a bit like blaming Lincoln for suspending ‘habeus corpus’…without mentioning there was a civil war going on.
Our troops have proven themselves dedicated to helping the Iraqis…but even if one doesn’t believe that, why would troops who have to stay there gratuitously incite the locals?
The grove-owners are being generously compensated and the story that they didn’t co-operate may even be cover to protect them. The 48 hr. rule still applies, esp. with this agenda-driven press.
Kimmitt
Thank you for the opposing viewpoints; I am now comfortable waiting for a few days to see how the entire story turns out.