U.S. raids don't find 3 missing soldiers

[Barrett808]

Source: Associated Press

U.S. raids don't find 3 missing soldiers
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD - U.S. soldiers raided suspected safehouses near the Euphrates River south of Baghdad on Monday in their search for three captured comrades but found them empty after the militants apparently were tipped off and fled, a military spokesman said.

It was the latest in a series of frustrations for exhausted U.S. troops hunting for any sign of the trio missing since a May 12 assault on an outpost by insurgents linked to al-Qaida. Four other Americans and an Iraqi soldier died in the attack.

Maj. Webster Wright, a spokesman for the 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, said 27 airborne operations had been staged during the widespread search the last nine days, dropping off soldiers to gain the element of surprise and avoid bomb-studded roads.

"It's very quick, it's very sudden," he said. "You can come from any different angle and drop down on a house without being pinned to the roads."

But he said the insurgents were catching on to U.S. tactics and had fled ahead of raids near the river Monday.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070521/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_missing_soldiers

[Monkeyman]

1. Its Becoming very clear they are gone

[ohio2007]

4. militant websites a few days ago reflect that sentiment

They claimed beheadings took place.
btw
The military did find a pile of bodies a day or two ago but that story got very little mention.

[maggiegault]

5. You Know, I Thought Losing My Brother To An IED Was The Pinnacle Of Suffering

I cannot begin to imagine what the families and friends of these kidnapped soldiers must be going through. I cannot imagine that level of torment, and I have had a crash course lately in extreme levels of emotional anguish.

This should be the top story on every single television channel, with the kind of ribbon campaign we did for the Iranian hostages. Instead, you get puff pieces about Jordin Sparks and Titney Spears.

Those poor, poor troops. My God. The first in what I am certain will be a line of soldiers who will reap the "benefits" that Dim Son's pro-torture madness has sown.

[uppityperson]

6. Hi Maggie, hugs for you.

:cry: :hug: :cry: :hug:

[Barrett808]

8. Word.

:hug: :cry:

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. How many people have they killed

while looking for these soldiers?

[Barrett808]

3. Probably few to none -- but they've certainly pissed off a lot more people

Which will hasten our inevitable, humiliating exit.

[David__77]

7. Honestly I imagine a massive hunt would endanger them.

They insurgents would probably like to keep prisoners, but the cost is too high so they kill them instead. Back-door negotiation would have been smarter than a massive hunt.

[gratuitous]

9. 'Cept we don't negotiate with terraists

I'm hoping against hope that these guys are still alive, but our country has surely earned another outcome. And I can't help wondering about these raids on so-called safehouses: It puts me in mind of a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that may not even be there.

[David__77]

10. Of course the US negotiates with "terrorists."

The US officials just don't make a point of publicizing it. Everyone negotiates, and to surrender that tool would be foolish.

[uncle ray]

11. why doesn't the liberal media report any of the GOOD news?

there's what, 150,000 soldiers in Iraq that aren't missing, why isn't the MSM reporting on that?

:sarcasm: