Of bullets and buncombe

Beaucoup buzz on the photo of the hijab hag with the unfired rounds she told Agence France-Presse hit her house. AFP has issued a correx to the original cutline, which read:

"An elderly Iraqi woman shows two bullets which she says hit her house following an early coalition forces raid in the predominantly Shiite Baghdad suburb of Sadr City. At least 175 people were slaughtered on Tuesday and more than 200 wounded when four suicide truck bombs targeted people from an ancient religious sect in northern Iraq, officials said.(AFP/Wissam al-Okaili)"

The correx reads:

"CORRECTS BULLETS TO UNSPENT An elderly Iraqi woman holds up two unspent bullets at her house following an early coalition forces raid in the predominantly Shiite Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, 14 August 2007."

As Ace of Spades notes, the correx says nothing about the woman's laughable claim that the rounds hit her house -- which they could hardly have done unless the troops were using a slingshot instead of an M-4.

Other bloggers have commented on peculiarities in the appearance of the rounds. Now maybe things have changed since my own ETS back in the last century, but all the 5.56 ball I ever got issued (and the British surplus stuff that's in my personal stores) has a band of discoloration on the cartridge case neck and shoulder from annealing. Commercial rounds don't show that, as it gets polished off before loading -- just like the ones the "Magic Bullet Lady" is displaying.