Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind

Heard about this, and I keep hoping it really was an accident. But I keep reading more and more about similar incidents...

This is the end-result of a volunteer army that self-selects for the lower end of the food chain, run by a former goldbrick-turned-commander-in-chief who is using the exact same plan that failed for the communists -- use military force to make the world believe as we believe.

Ultimately, I blame Ralph Nader and John Kerry. If Nader truly believes that Gore would have prosecuted foreign policy the same way that Dumbya has, then he needs to crash-test a Corvair without a seat belt. And if John Kerry had actually stood for something, he might have won. Though I'm not sure his foreign policy would have been appreciably different than Dumbya's.

Oh, jeez, Mike G. give me a break would'ja?

"U.S. President Li’l Bastard said he regretted the incident, called it an accident, and said there would be an investigation by (surprise!) the American government. As is his policy, he refused to apologize for the shootings, even if they were an accident."

Maybe I'm just weird, but that sounds like a an apology. What's with the left's fascination for hearing the word "sorry"? Poor vocabularies?

"Sgrena said they were targeted by the U.S. government because the United States opposes Italy’s practice of negotiating with hostage takers."

Yeah, that must be it.

"Sgrena was there, Mr. McClellan. You were not. If it’s a matter of credibility, she wins. Even if she is a Commie."

Yeah, it's not like she wouldn't tell the truth even if she DOESN'T like us. Cause Communists always tell the truth as opposed to "roving bands of troops" that just want to kill civilians , cover their asses, but leave the victims alive with plenty of witnesses around.
They're not only corrupt, but stupid. Jeez!

"Sgrena said they were targeted by the U.S. government because the United States opposes Italy’s practice of negotiating with hostage takers."

Well, no. She offers this as a possible reason why they were shot at when not speeding through a checkpoint, when asked. There's a difference.

Sgrena's wounding, and the death of the Italian agent who was escorting her, are shameful acts -- not just 'regretable' acts. Unless something is done to prevent this stupidity in the future, the shame will continue.
I wish I could have faith in whatever investigation is due to take place, but I'm also willing to hope for a fair appraisal of the tragedy. Time will tell.

Read the transcript on CNN of her article that was published on Sunday. In her article she says that the vehicle she was driving in almost lost control before she was shot at.

The car kept on the road, going under an underpass full of puddles and almost losing control to avoid them. We all incredibly laughed. It was liberating. Losing control of the car in a street full of water in Baghdad and maybe wind up in a bad car accident after all I had been through would really be a tale I would not be able to tell.

Now, I have never almost lost control of a car or almost wound up in a bad accident in a car that was going slow in my life. And again, if Americans wanted to kill her, why is she still alive

Photos of the car are now appearing online. If they are legit you have to admire the amazing accuracy of the American soldiers--the witness said that hundreds of shots were fired but judging from the fact that the car has only a few holes, only one conclusion can be reached--the American sharpshooters kept hitting the exact same spot!

Or, conversely, they were unable to hit the slow moving car. Yeah, THAT'S the ticket...

I have to respectfully disagree with Mike on this one. Regardless of whether or not our troops *should* be in Iraq, they *are* in Iraq -- and some people over there are trying to kill them on a more or less daily basis. Our troops don't have much choice about being there (okay, they could have chosen other careers or gone to jail for refusing to go to Iraq), but journalists do. It's a dangerous place, and any moderately intelligent journalist realizes that there's a significant risk of something bad happening to you there. So if you don't like the odds, stay home.

It's my understanding that a "checkpoint" in Iraq consists of some concertina wire hastily thrown across some randomly selected stretch of road, where our troops then wait to see if some suicide bomber will come by and try to blow them up. This is obviously a disaster waiting to happen, which may have happened in this case.

Assuming it was an accident (even an incredibly stupid one), I can't really get behind punishing the soldiers on the line. And since we all know it would never go any further than that anyway, in the absence of any hard evidence to the contrary, I'd suggest we accept whatever feeble apology the president offers and move on.

Considering that she was ransomed for six million dollars, your first paragraph is a little off the mark. Perhaps you ought to consider how many more people will be kidnapped now that the terrorists responsible see how easy it is to get tons of money.

Every part of this story is outrageous. The more we learn the better our soldiers look (in light of circumstances, not that it's not a tragedy that they fired on what turned out to be a non-threat).

Well, I don't want to crucify our troops, but they really don't look all that good. This just in:

RAMADI, Iraq - The deputy commander of the Iraqi army in western Al-Anbar province was shot dead by US troops at a checkpoint Tuesday night, a police officer said.

"The US forces opened fire at 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Brigadier General Ismail Swayed al-Obeid, who had left his base in Baghdadi to head home," police Captain Amin al-Hitti said.

"They spotted him on the road after the curfew, which goes into effect at 6 pm," the officer said in Baghdadi, 185 kilometres (142 miles) west of the capital.

No immediate reaction was available from the US military.