So and so said.....

I'm getting tired of all of the statements in the media with the caveat "so and so said on condition of anomynity!" Here are just a few of the recent examples. The line with the number is the article headline and the burger dots are the examples.
----------------------------------------------------------------
1.McCain unexpectedly visits Baghdad ............

.a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release the information.
.officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
.police said on condition of anonymity for the same reason.

2.Cheney to push Mideast peace, Iraq ties...............

.a senior US official told reporters in a pre-trip briefing held on condition he not be named.
.a step the unnamed US official directly tied to efforts to contain regional powerhouse Iran.

3.Shiite clashes fray truce .................

.police said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

4.Militants target Green Zone in Baghdad............

.He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to release the information.
.The violence was reported by police officials who declined to be identified because they weren't supposed to release the information.

5.U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 4,000.............

.learned last week from U.S. military officials familiar with the recommendations but not authorized to speak.
------------------------------------------------------------
I can understand when it might mean getting killed, a person would not want their name splashed all over the front page. The ones that bother me is when people who are supposed to keep quiet blab to the press. How do we know we can believe them. This is how our enemies get "their truth" out there. We have to learn to take this type of information "with a grain of salt."