Hertling: Report that Iraqi forces can’t be trusted is ‘logic leap’

Hertling: Report that Iraqi forces can’t be trusted is ‘logic leap’
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, January 12, 2008

ARLINGTON, Va. — Standard operational security concerns, not a lack of trust, prompted U.S. military planners to keep recent offensive operations secret from many Iraqi troops ahead of the operations, said the commander of U.S. troops in northern Iraq.

This month, U.S. and Iraqi forces launched Operation Phantom Phoenix against insurgents south of Baghdad and in northern Iraq.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that the offensive was kept secret from most of the Iraqi units taking part for as long as possible to prevent insurgents from leaving the region ahead of time.

The story says the move suggests that U.S. military planners “cannot fully trust the allies who are supposed to pick up more of the fighting as American troops scale back their presence this year.”

On Friday, Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling said the reporter who wrote the story took a “logic leap.”


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51565

What is wrong with these people? Is stupidity catching, or do they hire with that as a criterion?