More on Richard Butler's rescue:
WOW: Iraqi Army Rescues Western Journalist in Basra
Just mull over the contours of this headline for a few moments:
IRAQI ARMY RESCUES WESTERN JOURNALIST IN BASRA
What is this? I mean, what is this? What’s the right word to describe this?
Is it ‘irony’? Is it the “incongruity between what might be expected to happen and what actually happens” as my little dictionary defines ‘irony’?
Richard Butler, a British journalist working for CBS News, was auspiciously rescued today by an Iraqi Army unit that had been conducting a security sweep through a once-volatile Basra neighborhood—one that was until recently dominated by militants—in which he had been held captive since February 10.
I mean if any event could be seen as a send-up to how western reporters have covered Operation Cavalry Charge in Basra, then this would be it!
Instead of praying for Butler’s safety, instead of taking a stand on right and wrong, the foreign press threw their sympathies behind the outlaws; those western reporters did not hold candle-lit vigils for their kidnapped comrade, since professional solidarity can’t hold a candle to the venality of Bush hatred. It was far more important for these journalists to root for the Sadrist-related criminal cartels that are being targeted by the continuing military operations in Basra and elsewhere than to admit that Iraq may be fixing itself, and may not, after all, turn into the ‘fiasco’ they’ve been heralding with certainty for so long.
Some of these outlaws may very well have been the same killers who’d abducted and murdered Steven Vincent in August 2005. Was Vincent’s blood not enough of a marker to distinguish between the bad guys and the good guys in this battle? Well, clearly not for the likes of Glanz, Raghavan and Ware—who’ve constructed their own psychosomatic brand of ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ in Iraq.
This rescue is also a send-up to the British military, cowering as they have been at the periphery of Basra: What have they done to save one of their own? It fell to Iraqi soldiers, the same ones the Brits were ridiculing as inept and gutless to whichever journalist would jot such rancor down, to bail out one of Her Majesty’s abandoned subjects.
I wonder how all this will be spun in tomorrow’s editions. For the time being, we can all warm up to the glow of this happy ending.
posted by Nibras Kazimi ????? ??????? at 9:46 AM
7 Comments:
DJElliott said...
Have you seen a unit ID associated with this yet.
I haven't. If it was luck, they probably would be bragging about the unit.
If it was intel driven, then this was the ISOF Commando Battalion and ISOF does not advertise...
11:50 AM, April 14, 2008
Soldier's Dad said...
Tommorows papers will be blathering about how Bilal Hussein has been freed by tenacious journalists pressuring the evil "Ameriki".
Then will have more stories about how Hugo Chavez is going to set up a NATO of South America. (The stories will ignore the mess every defense minister in South America made in his pants at this news)
Then we will here about how the Humanitarian, Moqtada AlSadr is feeding the poor people of Sadr City....
What we won't here about it that anyone that attempts to feed the poor people of Sadr City gets shot at by Moqtada's goons.
Admitting that the powerful Mehdi Army is held together by threats of being starved to death by Moqtada's goons just does not fit the template.
It would hard, even for the most leftarded to support a cause that threatens people with starvation. So we will just pretend that it isn't happening.
8:42 PM, April 14, 2008
bg said...
++
here is the report i read and
posted @ ITM earlier today..
OH HELL YES IRAQ/IS!! WOOT!! (thumbsup)
Iraq forces free kidnapped British journalist
excerpt:
[Iraqi security forces freed a British journalist kidnapped two months ago in the main southern city of Basra on Monday after
a fierce firefight with his abductors, Iraqi officials said.
Richard Butler was found in a room handcuffed
and with a hood over his head, they said.
Soon after his release, Butler was shown on state television surrounded by Iraqi military officials who hugged and applauded him before sitting down with the journalist to share a meal.
The tousle-haired Butler, who had been on assignment with US television network CBS when he was abducted along with his Iraqi translator on February 10, praised the soldiers who had freed him.
"The Iraqi army stormed the house and overcame my guards
and then burst through the door," said a smiling Butler.
"I had my hood on, which I had to have on all the time.
And they shouted something at me and I pulled my hood off."
Looking healthy, Butler added: "I am looking forward to seeing my family and my friends at CBS."
"We are incredibly grateful that our colleague, Richard Butler,
has been released and is safe," CBS said in a statement.
The photographer was later taken to the British base at Basra airport where he was given a medical examination, a British official said.
Iraqi defence ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed al-Askari said on state television that troops from the army's Fourteenth Division raided Basra's Jubaiyia neighbourhood earlier on Monday.
The action was part of extensive operations against Shiite militiamen in Basra by the Iraqi forces launched on March
25 under orders from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
"There was some indication that there was a target there,
but we didn't know it was the British journalist," Askari said.
"Our forces advanced towards a house and were confronted by heavy fire from four gunmen. The fight lasted for 30 minutes. One of them was arrested but the three others fled. One was wounded.
"When we entered the house, we found the British journalist. He
is in good health. We have handed him over to a British general."]
more @ link..
ps: i never read the NYT or the WaPo..
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