Some good news on the hunt for those barbarians who killed, tortured and mutilated two young American soldiers. From a Cent-Com press release:
A combined and joint force of more than 8,000 Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces assembled to take part in the search. The force included three MND-B brigade combat teams, Iraqi army, national and local police, adjacent units from Multi-National Force – West, Navy and Air Force aircraft and other Coalition Forces. The Coalition and ISF used all available resources including, air, ground and water to locate the Soldiers. While Air Force para-rescue dive teams searched the canals, engineers patrolled the Euphrates River and Coalition unmanned aerial vehicles and helicopters patrolled from the sky. Twenty-five military operations were conducted, including 11 air assault missions. More than 12 villages and an old power plant were searched.
In the massive effort to locate the missing Soldiers, 12 CF Soldiers were wounded. Six caches were discovered. Two of the weapons caches were found in the power plant. Some of the contraband found in the caches included a suicide vest, gun powder, plastic explosives with detonation cord, grenades, AK-47s, and homemade rocket launchers with several rockets. Throughout the process, Iraqi citizens from across Baghdad provided almost 80 tips, which were all investigated. Coalition soldiers engaged local religious, community and political leaders to maintain support and gain information.
In an attempt to thwart the search effort, the enemy conducted a series of harassing attacks with improvised-explosive devices and indirect fire, all of which failed to stop the search. Ten IEDs detonated and 17 were found by searchers before detonation. Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces detained 36 suspected anti-Iraqi forces involved in the murders and killed two enemy fighters. Coalition Forces surged interrogation operations around-the-clock for three days while the search for the soldiers continued.
I hope they find those monsters, kill them in battle or take them prisoner and show them how civilized people treat captured enemy combatants.
The Dish 