The reported "largest air assault since the start of the Iraq War" was a total dud, eyewitnesses report.
While U.S. media claimed "Operation Swarmer" was some massive military campaign, in reality it was nothing but some helicopters flying around.
There were no air strikes.
Just 48 "suspected insurgents" were captured, and 17 of those were immediately released.
"A spokesman for the U.S. military, Lt. Col. Craig Collier, says it has been difficult to differentiate between insurgents and the local community," Australia's ABC reported today.
Time Magazine put it more bluntly:
"In fact, there were no airstrikes and no leading insurgents were nabbed in an operation that some skeptical military analysts described as little more than a photo op. What's more, there were no shots fired at all and the units had met no resistance, said the U.S. and Iraqi commanders."
The world news media was duped.
"So how and why did this latest apparently routine combing operation, yielding a few arms caches and netting some low-grade suspects, manage to win stop-press coverage around the world?," the BBC asked.
"The use of the phrase 'the largest air assault operation' was clearly crucial, raising visions of a massive bombing campaign."
No comments:
Post a Comment