The above is from today's New York Times, David S. Cloud's "U.S. and Iraqi Forces Seek Abducted Britons in Raid." It's embarrassing by any standard and that even includes the laughable 'standards' of the New York Times. Yesterday, CBS and AP reported:
The U.S. helicopter that crashed and killed two soldiers in Diyala province Monday was shot down by enemy fire, a senior U.S. military official said Wednesday. Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military believes the aircraft was brought down by small arms fire, and that the roadside bomb that killed a response team headed to the crash site was not the newer, armor piercing explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, that have killed hundreds of U.S. soldiers.
Brig. Gen Perry Wiggins was your public announcement, David S. Cloud. Doesn't pay to sleep on the job. Except at the Times. (Ask Ethan.) So, despite what Cloud gets wrong today, the US military did clear this up yesterday and let's note, again, that CNN was able to report what happened Tuesday. They didn't have to wait for an official statement from the US military.
Turning to the topic of the report (the crash isn't the topic) let's note that when 3 US soldiers went missing on May 12th, the paper had so many other things to do. Let's further note, because the paper doesn't, 2 US soldiers remain missing: Alex R. Jimenez and Byrwon W. Fouty.
David S. Cloud is useless and an embarrassment to reporting.
But, as we noted when the Times was short changing the then 3 missing US soldiers, wait until it's private contractors and see the difference. You're seeing the difference now.
For the record, the British military hasn't gotten no coverage like this and wouldn't. But let big business enter the picture and it's time for everyone to go rushing to stand on the corner, under the redlight, in their tackiest fishnets. Meanwhile Martin Packer remains dead and the Times remains silent.
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david s. cloud
the new york times
