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October 20, 2005
A Matter of Definition
The new improved and slightly more global looking UK Today will be back on 1st November 2005.
In the meantime, the ambiguity of the situation in Iraq continues with the fallout from the US air attack in Ramadi. Once again we're presented with a disconnect between what is reported on the ground, and what the US Military states.
The U.S. military said it killed a total of 70 insurgents in Sunday's airstrikes and, in a statement, said it knew of no civilian deaths.
vs
In all, residents and hospital workers said, 39 civilians and at least 13 armed insurgents were killed in a day of U.S. airstrikes
We should not be too surprised, as the war on terror has now been openly ongoing for at least 4 years (though the underlying conflict of American Hegemony goes way back nearly 100 years), and as Hiram Johnson said in 1917 The first casualty when war comes is truth.
Personally I'd always take eye-witness reports over military press releases. A named source on the ground, such as Rory Carroll, who has access to such witnesses provides a degree of credibility, allied to a proven track record in neutral and balanced reporting of events such as the recent referendum.
Whereas the best the military can managed is hackneyed and unrealistic statements in which everyone they kill is, by default, an insurgent.
Posted by Clive on October 20, 2005 10:36 AM in the category War