[Poohbah]

Look here, in unloading his pistol Col. West used the Ba'athist's own beliefs against him. To the Ba'athist, if not you nor your friends in the news media, the threat was to pistol whip the guy ~ not to shoot him!

Sorry, muawiyah. LTC West threatened to apply deadly force. Among other things, he did NOT unload the pistol; he discharged it. There is a difference between the two. Firing the weapon is not part of the unloading sequence.

[muawiyah]

That's what that particular barrel was for - to verify that the weapon did not have a chambered round. Following that, no doubt appropriate examination of the weapon was made.

The word "allegedly" is still in the story, whether it's the military "fact sheet" or a piece of garbage from one of your "newsie" friends at the New York Times.

[31stInf]

I find it surprising that so many postings refer to the pistol being unloaded. Unloaded means it contains no ammuntion. Very difficult to fire an unloaded firearm.