U.S.-Iraqi Raid Nets Militia Suspect

All they had to do was blow the dust off the invasion plans from Desert Storm. And they would have foreseen everything that has happened so far.

Yep, Earl... I watched that show on CNN, and i distinctly recall the current scenario used to explain why US forces did not go after Saddam.

Oh, there will be more posturing than at a Paris fashion show, but I do agree that such a dialogue is a good thing for the region.

You are right. This region used to be "everyone for themselves" and highly divided region. And that is why you have all sort of tribal issues and killings. If the region is united through display of example from their leaders, there is a high chance for peace. Although Mahmoud is caught with all the nuke issues with the US, he is a modern leader which can be seen from the progression of his country compared a lot of other countries in the region. Peace in the Middle East will not come through the US or coalition forces, it will only come from within. So I look at it as a great potential for US troops to get out of the region, and let the Middle East leaders take care of their own issues.

Maybe Bush will claim that his strategy all along was to unite the Middle East by providing them with a common enemy to hate even more.

As am I. The title of this article just changed while I was away from my desk.

They do this all the time and it bugs the living daylights out of me. I'll comment on a specific statement in an article and then they'll change it slightly and it won't include the statement I was commenting on. This time the entire article seems to have changed completely.

I wondered about that myself, bmvaughn, and so far I have come up with a number of theories:

1) AP is suggesting Ahmadinejad ordered the killing of Walid Hassan (Ahmadinejad is smiling)
2) AP is suggesting Ahmadinejad was a fan of the comedian in question (Ahmadinejad is smiling)
3) AP is suggesting Ahmadinejad benefits from the killing of Hassan (Ahmadinejad is smiling)
4) AP is suggesting Ahmadinejad is identical with Walid Hassan (Ahmadinejad is smiling)

The Iranian president also appear in the tags, so obviously it is intentional. Which opens the possibility of some elaborate conspiracy involving at least but not exclusively Thomas Wagner, AP and / or The Bilderbergs.

I thought it was a fluke myself until I saw the tags...

We need a disclaimer for the photo:

The politician shown is not nearly as funny as the guy who got killed, but at least he's mugging for the camera.

Based on the number of revisions noted in this article, I propose that the Newsvine auto-tagger attempts to re-tag any revised stories by AP.

This would have added tags of Iran and Syria, at the least.

Except Michael Richards didn't get blown up. He just blew up in a torrent of racism.

And now the headline is "U.S.-Iraqi Raid Nets Militia Suspect"

I think the "auto-updater" keeps updating the story, because now it's about three way talks, a comedian, militia members, and of course, our friend, "the President of ... wait for it ... Iran."

BAGHDAD, IRAQ — U.S. and Iraqi forces raided Baghdad's Sadr City on Tuesday and detained seven militia members, including one believed to have information about an American soldier kidnapped last month, the military said. A popular comedian who had poked fun at Iraq's security was buried, a day after he was shot to death driving through Baghdad.

Iraq restored diplomatic relations with Syria as part of a wider regional effort to clamp off violence in Iraq. Iran has invited the Iraqi and Syrian presidents to a weekend summit in Tehran — an invitation thought to be an attempt by Tehran to upstage expected U.S. moves to enlist Syria and Iran in tackling the chaos in Iraq.