A massive dragnet entered its second week today with no indication that searchers were any closer to finding three U.S. soldiers kidnapped after an ambush in the Triangle of Death, but there was a flurry of reports that it is believed two of the three men are alive.
Meanwhile, families of the four men killed in the attack prepared to bury the dead as families of the missing men prayed for their safe return and cities and towns, including my own, held Memorial Day parades.
Seven days have passed since a communique from Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia claimed that the group had captured the three men. No video showing their quarry has been broadcast, the insurgents’ usual modus operandi, an aberration which is a cause for hopefulness because captives’ survival chances typically decrease once propaganda tapes are released.
But then there is nothing usual about this kidnapping and search.
The operation has taken on an enormous urgency coming as it does amidst implementation of President Bush’s do-or-die surge strategy, a restive Congress and public that has turned increasingly against the four-plus year war, which has taken 3,415 American lives.
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