U.S. Embassy Attacked in Syria

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Four men shouting Islamic slogans tried to blow up the U.S. mbassy in Damascus on Tuesday but their car bomb failed to explode and Syrian security guards killed three of them in a shootout. No U.S. diplomats were hurt.

"Four men." Who were these men? Why whitewash the article? Maybe the AP has more:

Islamic militants attempted to storm the U.S. Embassy in a brazen attack Tuesday using automatic rifles, hand grenades and at least one van rigged with explosives, the government said. Syrian security forces killed three of the attackers.

First, an attack on a U.S. Embassy is an act of war. This needs to be treated as what it is, an act of war by radical islam against the United States of America. Anyone else think that the timing of this interesting? Yesterday, Ayman Zawahiri issued a call for every Muslim to "make use of every opportunity afforded him to take revenge on America for its imprisonment of Sheikh Umar Abdel Rahman". Think these radicals took him up on his plea? Laura Mansfield thinks its possible.

Second, why wash the news report? Why say four men, when they weren't just four men, they were four islamic militants. Its an important distinction. "Four Men" are four guys who are drunk and pull a stupid stunt. For "Four Men", this attack is just as gratifying on the U.S. Embassy, the British Embassy, the French Embassy, or the local I.H.O.P.

Four "Islamic Militants" on the other hand, means a planned, calculated, funded, attack by trained operatives who are hell bent on the destruction of the free western world. So which one more accurately depicts today's attack? Why does Reuters choose to not tell the entire story? Its not until the very end of the Reuters' piece do you find out:

Syria's secular Baathist government crushed an armed revolt led by the Muslim Brotherhood movement in the early 1980s.

Syrian forces have clashed with Islamist militants several times in recent months, often during raids to arrest them.

Why wait till the end of the article to put the entire instance in context?

As I was once told by a boss years ago, words are like gold, spend them wisely.

UPDATE:
Typos fixed