Passing thoughts

Cox & Forkum have a good idea to replace all those blindfolded female statues representing justice.

The big Iraq news today is that an Italian journalist had been taken hostage in Iraq and was released today by her captors. American forces shot at the vehicle carrying her, wounding her and killing the Italian agent accompanying her. Now Italy wants an explanation. Confederate Yankee says, "I am very disappointed at the U.S. soldiers that fired on this vehicle... There should have been no survivors." And I think he's right. It's hardly being cold-blooded, it's called having a realistic perception of war. A soldier doesn't have time to ask questions, let alone of a strange vehicle approaching their checkpoint at a high rate of speed. It's a damned shame an innocent was killed and another was wounded, but for crying out loud, it's war. Our armed forces aren't there to ensure the safety of journalists at the cost of their own lives.

What got me was "Reporters Without Borders" asking for a UN investigation. The UN? The UN is so trustworthy it has to hire Volcker to investigate the Oil-For-Food scandal. [Addendum: I guess this was clumsily phrased. It's meant to say that the UN can't be trusted enough to investigate its own house, yet people still call for "UN investigations."]

Keith Burgess-Jackson is right, noting that "haters aren't known for their consistency."