Six or 7 US POWs have been found by Marines in a prison south of Tikrit. Fox says six, MSNBC says 6 or 7, and CNN says 7. CNN is giving the most definitive information, saying that they’re being transported to a field hospital south of Baghdad right now. They apparently have a reporter there on the ground.
The bad news is that while we know there are at least 7 POWs because those are the ones we saw on TV, there are an additional six MIAs who we don’t know anything about. So out of those 13, we don’t know which 6 or 7 have been rescued. There will be disappointed families this morning. Pray for them.
It’s typical of CNN that they refuse to say that the POWs have been “rescued.” They keep saying that they have been “turned over” or “recovered.” MSNBC and Fox are using the word “rescued.” A small distinction? Maybe. Fox says that a series of tips by Iraqis led the Marines to the location where they were liberated. CNN says the Iraqi officers holding the POWs fled and the enlisted soldiers wentto where the Marines where and handed them over. So how did they know the Marines were there? How did the Marines know they were coming?
In any case, however it happened, I’m glad they’re safe.
Update: CNN reporter reports live that he sees 7 POWs come off helicopter at airbase south of Baghdad. Two are injured, but walking. One of them is a woman, which would mean that it is Shoshana Johnson, one of the members of the 507th Maintenance Company, Jessica Lynch’s unit. My guess is that these are the actual POWs. I think it is irresponsible to identify any of them even by sex or military branch because that sort of thing should come only after all the families of the POWs/MIAs have been notified.
