that had to be a slip of the tongue.

That's right. Our troops don't go around gratuitously shooting Sadrists and then bragging about it in seedy non-com clubs. No we go around gratuitously shooting Sadrists and then agonizing about it for hours with our girl-friends... or to the media. And then we write novels about it. In crayon.

lauraw,

Yeah, I don't think he meant that. I think he was just required to not gloat about it, and, off the top of his head, he came up with the "sadly" formulation.

It's still sorta funny.

May,

That sounds like a bit from The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

That is just so ... sad.

"Sadly a very large number of Sadrists were killed" But on the good side I havent seen any reports of U.S. Casualties. Yes, how unfortunate for the Sadrists that they are stupid enough to fuck with our Marines, how very sad (for them).

It is sad for the families of the Sadr loyalists. They lost their sons and brothers.

When an American soldier dies, it is sad too.

Death is sad.

Just because you disagree with the idea that Iraqis should have control over their own country, it doesn't mean that they are subhumans that should be killed en masse. Anybody dying in combat is sad. That's just a basic rule.

Did you ever read "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque? Although he was technically our enemy at the time, reading about his 19 year old German friends getting shot was tragic, no matter what.

Unless you're saying that Iraqis don't deserve basic human respect.