GOOD NEWS FROM IRAQ!

Official Operation Iraqi Freedom press release, dated today:

Soldiers kill insurgent and seize deadly weapon

AL TARAQ, Iraq -- Coalition Forces took an insurgent and his weapon off the streets of Al Taraq, Iraq during a combat operation May 19.

Soldiers from Fort Drum, N.Y.’s, 1st Platoon, Company A, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) thwarted a possible sniper attack while looking for evidence of three missing U.S. Soldiers who were abducted by insurgents May 12.

..."It is good to get the sniper rifle off the streets and away from the terrorists," said Spc. Doug Coleman, a team leader with the company, and the Soldier who found the weapon. "I am sure that same rifle would have been used on one of us during the mission."

Getting the rifle off the streets will help to make the battalion area of operations safer....

You mean we're so desperate for good Iraq news that we're now sending out press releases when we capture one guy and seize one gun?

(Actually, as the full press release notes, there were two snipers, and one was killed. Still, is a full press release really warranted -- four-plus years into a war we were supposed to have wrapped up in months -- when something like this happens?)