They Were Lying Then. Are They Lying Now?

The American military admitted Sunday night that a platoon of soldiers raked a car of innocent Iraqi civilians with hundreds of rounds of gunfire and that the military then issued a news release larded with misstatements, asserting that the victims were criminals who had fired on the troops.

The civilians were workers at the airport. One might reasonably presume that they were intimately familiar with the security protocols. One might also reasonably assume that there is not an Iraqi alive who does not understand the dangers of approaching American military vehicles.

This may all be a tragic mistake. It is probably not difficult to understand that one of the top priorities of the soldiers is to not die in this war. But anyone who thinks that the Iraqis are not going to draw a link between this shooting and the Nasoor Square Massacre is seriously delusional.

Ask yourself how would you react if the cops in your town machine-gunned a car full of people by accident.