Why weren't they captured alive II....

The media may be developing some backbone. Or, maybe they're simply responding to a growing uneasiness on the part of Americans over the rising death toll to guerilla warfare in Iraq (four more soldiers killed today). Whichever, a reporter for the Boston Globe reported the following exchange at a news conference this week on the deaths of Hussein's two sons:

The ground force commander, General Ricardo Sanchez, was asked by two reporters similar questions Wednesday if the operation was indeed professional. The first reporter asked whether the mission was something of a failure given the value of the sons and the fact that they were armed with light weapons. Pentagon officials say they stormed the house of the sons only after the sons resisted.

Sanchez said, ''I would never consider this a failure.''

The second reporter said, ''The Americans are specialists in surrounding places, keeping people in them, holding up for a week if necessary, to make them surrender. These guys only had, it appears, AK-47s, and you had immense amount of firepower. Surely the possibility of the immense amount of information they could have given coalition forces, not to mention the trials that they could have been put on for war crimes, held out a much greater possibility of victory for you if you could have surrounded that house and just sat there until they came out, even if they were prepared to keep shooting.''

Sanchez said, ''Sir, that is speculation.''

The reporter said, ''No sir, it's an operational question. Surely you must have considered this more seriously than you suggested.''

Sanchez said, ''Yes, it was considered, and we chose the course of action that we took.''

The reporter asked, ''Why, sir?''

Sanchez said, ''Next slide - or next question please?''

Complete story here via Common Dreams.