“Soldiers make mistakes, too,” Petty said after a moment, almost sanctimoniously.
Then he explained that soldiers were constantly screwing up evidence. “Recently a platoon had a mission to pick up a suspected insurgent financier. They knew that finding the suspect’s cell phone was crucial to the raid’s success. They’d apprehended the target, but left his cell phone at the scene. They also left behind important documents. The papers they did bring in turned out to be nothing more than handwritten copies of a story about boating on the Tigris.” A hint of amusement crossed Petty’s face. “It turns out that the cell phone had been used to coordinate smuggling weapons, and numbers stored on the phone could have led to a breakthrough.”
Wynn sat silent. Although he understood Petty’s point, he s
