Thursday, June 19, 2003

ON THE SURFACE THIS DOESN'T LOOK GOOD.

At the same time I'm getting the feeling that folks will say just about anything to the press.

Or the press can find folks who will say just about anything. So I'm reading this story with a grain of salt, just in case.
A top American ground commander, Maj. Gen. Ray Ordierno, chief of the 4th Infantry Division conducting anti-resistance raids north of Baghdad, described his enemy as a mix of Ba'ath Party loyalists, Fedayeen Saddam paramilitaries, ex-intelligence service members and poor Iraqis who are being paid to kill Americans.

"They're being paid by ex-Ba'ath Party loyalists, who are paying people to kill Americans," Gen. Ordierno told reporters at the Pentagon via a tele-press conference from Iraq. "But from a military perspective, it is insignificant. They're having no impact on the way we conduct business on a day-to-day basis in Iraq."

The Washington Times in Tuesday's editions quoted an ex-Iraqi military officer as saying the resistance was offering more than $700 to kill an American. Since May, 42 American troops have died in Iraq in accidents and hostile fire.

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