NPR’s reporter in Mosul (his name escapes me) was excitedly describing “all the firepower” that was brought to bear against the brothers’ oddly conspicuous hideout (“the villa’s massive columns have been whittled down to twigs…”). The ordinance included TOW anti-tank missiles – an odd choice it seems for dealing with four people armed with RPGs and AK47s holed up in a big house with nowhere to go.
As the report rolled along, a sort of boy’s journey through the world of modern, portable uber-weapons, a question popped into my head: wouldn’t it have been better to capture them alive? Why didn’t US forces surround the area, retreat to a safe distance to avoid fire and wait the desperate occupants out?
Has anyone heard an explanation for this? Something besides Rumsfeld's jimminy cricket imitative rantings that is.
DRM
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