Bad News

I came home this afternoon to bad news. The bodies of the two missing soldiers in Iraq have been found and it appears the men were tortured. This event is the lead item at memeorandum at the moment. There are many, many blog posts and several wire reports on this sad news. I’ve read five or six of the blogposts (including some on the Left that just make my blood boil), but none better than what Confederate Yankee has written.

The terrorists of the Mujahedeen Shura Council probably think they have scored a victory, and indeed, in the short-term, they have. They can claim that after three years of war, they finally captured and killed a grand total of three U.S. soldiers. Accounts of the capture and killing of U.S. soldiers will receive a great amount of press worldwide. Arab media will likely present the deaths as a thinly veiled triumph, and the western media will use it as an opportunity to once again call for disengagement, as will many Democrats.

But these killings will not be received favorably by the U.S. military in Iraq, which will likely step up operations to hunt down and destroy terror and insurgent cells operating in this part of Iraq. Though official orders will not be given, perhaps U.S. forces will not be so inclined to take prisoners after this incident. Insurgents and their al Qaeda allies set the tone of giving U.S. forces no quarter when they took prisoners.

They made a huge mistake.

I have nothing to add, other than we pray for the families of these two soldiers.