Found this one buried in a story about an Iraqi Army general – and friend to our troops – under arrest in Baghdad for alleged corruption. Seems like some US SOF heading home wanted to pay the general a courtesy call on their way out of country:
In April, Iraqi officials say, American troops tried to forcibly remove the general from custody. Mr. Uqailee said the troops “tried to free General Nomon from prison,” but that Iraqi security forces refused to turn him over. “There was a fight between them, with words not weapons,” Mr. Uqailee said.
The American military denies that soldiers tried to free the general but acknowledges a “verbal argument” that was quickly resolved at the jail where he is being held. General Dakhil said several American special forces soldiers had come to the jail to say goodbye before returning home, and were turned away, resulting in a verbal fracas.
A senior United States Embassy official in Baghdad, speaking anonymously according to ground rules for the interview, played down how Iraqi officials described the episode, saying, “There are always little confrontations by the nature of two military forces coming together.” He elaborated: “If it wasn’t a gun battle it’s not a real confrontation.”
That would be a little more grimly amusing, if it weren’t for the fact that general has been replaced by a man who is believed to have ties to Moktada Sadr’s Mahdi army.
Now it reads more like a prognostication.
I’m pretty sure that if US spec ops had tried to ‘forcibly remove’ a prisoner from an Iraqi Army detention center, the headline would have read “Iraqi general disappears from prison, Iraqi MP’s say ‘ghosts’ helped him escape”.
But it does beg the question thoughtful warriors might begin to ask,…”What do you do when ‘doing one’s duty’ becomes a farce?”