Apparently notions of
honor have to go to by the wayside in the effort to conclude
Operation Iraqi Freedom. The U.S. Army appears to have decided on a different tactic, kidnapping. According to
MSNBC.com and the
Washington Post:
Col. David Hogg, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, said tougher methods are being used to gather the intelligence. On Wednesday night, he said, his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: "If you want your family released, turn yourself in." Such tactics are justified, he said, because, "It's an intelligence operation with detainees, and these people have info." They would have been released in due course, he added later.
The tactic worked. On Friday, Hogg said, the lieutenant general appeared at the front gate of the U.S. base and surrendered.
Stuff like this really makes me think about notions of military service and honor, so
nobly espoused by
Cuba Gooding Jr. in
Men of Honor as so much
false piety, and the platitudes heaped upon soldiers as being something akin to those heaped upon the conspirators in
Mark Antony's
eulogy of
Julius Caesar. I imagine some will say Saddam Hussein would have killed them if the situation were reversed, see how much compassion we have? But it will be a
cold day in hell before I use
that guy as the benchmark against which I measure my
manhood.
Go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A54345-2003Jul27?language=printer for the story