Yeah, one has to wonder why they're even there.
I suspect it's so they can put "Baghdad" or "Inside the Sunni Triangle" in their by-line.
Your great catch has confirmed my thoughts about many of their so call stories from Iraq.
All along I have felt those so called stories had the same reliability of a Jason story at the NY Slimes.
They get sent to Baghdad, and they stay in their hotels and wait for the emails from their editors. Then, they add their names and send their new stories from Baghdad about how we are losing the war.