Posted on 05/18/2007 5:28:46 AM PDT by RDTF
The stories have come in by the dozens.
One man swore that he had personally buried two Americans. As soldiers quickly began digging, another man came up and asked why they were unearthing his cousin.
Other Iraqis have said they saw the Americans walking, encircled by their captors, and still more have fingered people who they thought might have something to do with the ambush on Saturday that killed four American soldiers and one Iraqi.
Thousands of soldiers are searching for three missing Americans taken during the attack, and sifting through the tips has become the hub of the manhunt. A few have panned out, while most have led nowhere — deliberately so in some cases, many Americans suspect.
The false alarms highlight the challenge American troops face here in a Sunni stronghold where many residents resent the American presence. And for the soldiers who are searching, the disappointments can be heartbreaking.
Sgt. First Class Phitsidane Panpradith, 34, was with the first unit to arrive at the scene of the attack on Saturday. He rushed in from a patrol base a few hundred yards away, and maneuvered around two roadside bombs to get there.
What he saw — two burning vehicles, dead soldiers — horrified him. Searching for his missing friends, he said, offered some of the only comfort he could find.
So when an Iraqi informer said the three Americans could be found near the Caveman canal outside Cargouli village, Sergeant Panpradith moved quickly.
He gathered about 15 men and set out on a grueling 12-mile march through fields and orchards, avoiding the bomb-strewn roads, in the baking afternoon sun. He said he really thought they would find the missing soldiers.
-snip-
But they found nothing.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I think I would revisit some of those people who gave the false leads........
I thing we are finding a lot, may not be our missing soldiers but we are sending out a distinct message if it happens again.
OK I get it NY Times... we just make things worse by being there, you can't trust Iraqis, they aren't worth our effort...yada, yada, yada. zzzzzzzzzzzz
No kidding. And we should take off the gloves completely interrogation wise. We have ways of finding out information that would end this crap.
Careful now....don't hurt their feelings or leave bruises! :)
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