So, I went to Centcom’s Casualty Report Search Facility this AM trying to find out just what Sunday’s damages really were, only to find their usual smarmy little message:
OK, I know your political masters like a clean war, but your habit of posting reports late in the day in order to get them knocked off the page by a few short ticks of the clock is offensive. And what’s up with the title on yesterday’s report: "TASK FORCE 1ST ARMORED DIVISION CONDUCTS OPERATIONS IN SADR CITY "? It sounds more like the rosey tripe you publish on your main page than an actual casualty report. (seven dead BTW) Up til now, you’ve been good at actually putting the number of dead in the headline. Are you now so desperate to put a shine on things that you can’t afford the dead even that simple courtesy?
Well FUCK YOU Centcom!
Those who died didn’t do so, so that you can bombard us with your fucking Smiley Face message each and every day.
Bring back the damn 10 day default search setting.
Bring back informative report titles.
Stop playing games with the dead.
The postings were dated the 6th. They were up before sunrise. Things like notification of families and whatnot delay official pronouncements of death from practically all government agencies. I learned that from West Wing.
Not at all. If Libertarian had bothered to look at a few of the reports, he’d have seen that they usually contain a line to to this effect: “The names of the deceased are withheld pending next-of-kin notification.”
Occasionally, Centcom does post their reports at the same time the casualty figures hit the newspapers. That’s not the norm. Usually they have their little “No Casualty Reports Found!” banner up, and idiots like Lib who believe in skimming for surface truths, will be misled into thinking the press is lying, and everything is just peachy-keen in the conquered lands.
As I recall, it was quite difficult. Had to learn to spell, stuff like that. But you shouldn’t be worried about it. Cross your bridges when you come to them.