[Ratatoskr]

You know, if real, live active duty American military men "speaking on condition of anonymity" are choosing this moment to tell journalists what lying, incompetent monkies we are, I want every one of those traitors before a military tribunal.

But somehow I don't think it's happening.

[walden]

Yeah, I have a real problem with these "anonymous" officials crap. Casualty reports will be made in due time. You stop to honor and grieve your dead when the battle is over, not while it is raging. Make no mistake, the U.S. press is NOT on our side in this war, or any war. They were absolutely instrumental in the U.S. decision to abandon South Vietnam, and as far as I am concerned, there is far more blood on the hands of our press after WWII than there is on the hands of our military.

[Whilom]

I'll bet the source is not military. The use of "U.S. government official" is, I believe, deliberately broad. The source is a Democrat (or someone on his staff) on the House Armed Services Committee.