Journalist Freed!

Apologize for lack of postings - Army classwork is currently taking a lot of my time.

But I absolutely had to mention this remarkable event. The media is barely doing so - probably because it's good news.

Today, Richard Butler, a CBS journalist who was kidnapped by Iraqi insurgents back on Feb 10, was found and rescued in the city of Basra. You can listen to him in his own words here. What makes this truly remarkable is that he was rescued by the Iraqi Army, without assistance from the US or UK. What makes it even more remarkable is that they weren't even looking for him; they were watching the house and raided it looking for illegal weapons instead. In other words, they were actually doing their job. It looks like the mass firings of disloyal Iraqi Army servicemembers in the wake of the recent Mahdi Militia violence, has had it's effect.

UPDATE: In fact, you know it must be good news when Professor Juan Cole refuses to mention it in his daily rundown on events in Iraq.