I keep hearing what appears to be inaccurate spin on the mosque story, and just wanted to throw in my two cents for any readers who are hearing the redacted version. The actual reporter who was there reported that American troops were going up the street to secure the Ayatollah's home, at his own request.

The crowd thought that the soliders were going to take over the mosque, they weren't. And I think the commanders handled it brilliantly.

But reporters keep reporting the incident as though the Americans were going to secure the mosque -- of their own initiative (often reported with clucking tones about how "the Americans have learned a lesson") -- which is not the way the story was reported by the embed who was on the scene, who is not the British guy I keep seeing.