Insensitivity In the Press

Two U.S. Soldiers Found Dead, Iraq Official Says

By Jonathan Finer andJoshua Partlow
Tuesday, June 20, 2006; 8:58 AM

BAGHDAD, July 20--Two U.S. soldiers missing since an attack on a checkpoint last week have been found dead near a power plant in Yusifiyah, south of Baghdad, according to an Iraqi defense official.

Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz Muhammed-Jassim, head of operations at the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, said the soldiers had been "barbarically" killed and that there were traces of torture on their bodies.

Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, confirmed Tuesday afternoon in Baghdad that the bodies of two missing U.S. soldiers had been found. But he refused to identify them or discuss their condition or whereabouts, saying it was "inappropriate and very inconsiderate" to the families involved.

Caldwell said one U.S. soldier was killed and 12 others wounded in the extensive search for the missing soldiers, who were identified Monday as Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore. They were attacked at a checkpoint near Yusufiyah. A third soldier, Spec. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was killed in the incident.

In a statement posted on the Internet, the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed to have abducted the soldiers. The organization had issued a series of Internet statements in recent days vowing revenge on U.S.-led forces for the killing of insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was targeted in a massive U.S. airstrike on June 7.

What a horrible thing that the press is so anxious to be first with a story that they are willing to cause the families of these soldiers so much pain by not allowing the military to notify them before the story is published. The MSM's behavior in this is reprehensible. There is no excuse for them to be so insensitive and disrespectful.

The MSM's anti-war agenda has led them to gross misbehavior. Surely the families of these men deserve the minimal respect required to allow them to be notified without having to find this news out by seeing it on the national news or by having a reporter barge in on their privacy for the sake of a "scoop." The MSM continues to meet my very low expectations. Their conduct in this is inexcusable.

The members of the MSM should be ashamed of themselves, but I doubt they care enough to be so. They are disgusting vultures.

Full Story: Absolutely Disgusting

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