Very Sad News -- Missing Soldiers Found Murdered

It is reported that the two American soldiers missing since Friday have been found dead.

"Al-Qaida in Iraq" had claimed to have the soldiers held captive, but the bodies were found near the original ambush. Also, the terrorist's claim did not include the names of the soldiers, so there was perhaps nothing to it.

On the Today Show this morning, Ken MacKenzie, the uncle of one of the soldiers, asserted that the blame for this crime rest not on the killers who actually took his nephew's life, but the U.S. government.

He said the United States should have paid a ransom from money seized from Saddam Hussein.

"I think the U.S. was too slow to react to this. Because the U.S. did not have a plan in place, my nephew has paid with his life."

I take this to be a cheap shot at the administration, but for the moment am open to the possibility that there is something to his claim.

UPDATE: The Washington Post has more. Of course, true to form, they cannot report on the brutal murder of American soldiers by individuals beyond the reach of any justice without simultaneously reporting that American soldiers will be charged with murder for a May 9 incident in which three prisoners were killed. The Post also, for good measure, tells us that Italian authorities are planning to indict a soldier for shooting an Italian intelligence agent, a vague reference to the Giuliana Sgrena case, in which the Italians paid a ransom for the release of a far-left journalist and, while returning her to safe quarters, attempted to drive through a U.S. military checkpoint.

Also, NewsBusters has more on the Ken MacKenzie appearance on the Today show. Good for Matt Lauer for standing up to MacKenzie.

Via Michelle Malkin.

UPDATE 2: NPR has reported that in addition to being desecrated, the bodies of the murdered soldiers were used as part of a booby trap laid for the forces sent to retrieve them: "The military says the remains were found late Monday night by forces acting on a tip from an Iraqi civilian, who also warned of possible explosives nearby." It is evidence for American decline that there are some people for whom these young men died that would analogize these barbaric acts to certain methods used by the U.S. to interrogate prisoners.

Most of the stories reporting these murders have mentioned the indictment by Italy of American soldiers. They usually leave out the fact that at the center of the events that led to the indictment was Giuliana Sgrena. Had they mentioned her, they likely would have stepped on their own tale of moral equivalency, as she is likely the least sympathetic indiviuals ever victimized by terrorists in Iraq. This post by Michelle Malkin is good primer on that woman.

Technorati tags: Iraq | terror