Tell Me Again

The RNC keeps pushing the idea that there are stories we are missing in Iraq, and The Tennessean serves on up on Sep. 29th, 2004.  It says, dutifully enough,

"Samarra is a beaming success story over here," writes Lt. Col Jim Rose, a Tennessee Marine whose parents live in Old Hickory. "We were getting ready for a take-down there right after Najaf. We told the locals, 'Hey, see what happened in Najaf? Is that what you want? Cause we're coming.' It took the locals about two days to get the bad guys out."

For the record, I have never met Lt. Col. Jim Rose, but I have a sneaking suspicion he works in Public Relations.  Either that, or someone stepped on his foot and made him write a rosy write-up of this situation.  Let's see, anything else on Samarra in the news? Well, over in Kansas, the Pratt Tribune has this to say about the beaming success in Samarra

More than 100 guerrillas were killed and 37 captured on the first day of the operation Friday, according to an Iraqi official. The military said one American soldier was killed and four were wounded after some 5,000 swept in to seize the city hall, the main mosque and other key sites in Samarra.
The city appeared mostly calm Saturday except for in the center, where American snipers on rooftops fired at anybody appearing in the streets below.
...
A 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew was in effect, and water and electricity services were severed.