Just out of curiousity...

This quote from the New York Times struck me as a bit odd, "The initial reports of throats being slashed came from Iraq, and were never confirmed by officials in Washington, they said." Where "they" refers to unnamed military officials. Doesn't that seem like an odd way of putting it? Like officials in Washington would somehow have a better idea of what happened in Iraq, than, oh, I don't know, someone in Iraq! Now, I'm not trying to imply that I think there's some conspiracy, and I get that Washington officials do have to confirm information regarding the military that's made public (presumably for security reasons). And if "came from Iraq" means Iraqi sources rather than American sources in Iraq, well, ok then. Just seems like a strange way to describe the cause of confusion, and it's unfortunate that the reporter didn't ask a follow-up for clarification.