Art-

In my initial post it's mentioned that the quote was taken from the New York Times, Saturday, 3/29/03. I haven't read the full article, only what was excepted by my Portland Press Herald this morning.

And for others above-

I'm not surprised that this incident happened, or several hundred other ones inflicted on civilians by remote control rather than a "sharpshooter." This is WAR and this is what happens in WAR. I don't like it and it makes me sick that we were unable to stop it, and I'm sure that worse things will happen as this war continues. And I'm sure that more American and British soldiers will die as the Iraqi leadership gets more desparate, and like our founding fathers the Iraqi are unlikely to play by the rules.

With regard to the "soldier" who was quoted, I'm less convinced that he was callous then I am that he said something defensive, a derisive comment, which loosely translated meant "Shit, I shot some woman instead of the soldier." I'm still sure he'll be haunted by this scene for the rest of his life; she won't even have that prospect.

Yah, I should also add something about how the Iraqi leadership has brutalized large segments of their population, invaded their neighbors, and refused to comply completely with UN mandates for over 10 years. That being said, I still do not think we had the right to invade Iraq to replace their government without UN authorization. And by going ahead with the invasion anyway, we have jeopardized the UN itself and our own moral standing in the world community.

I have the utmost respect for the small number of diplomats who have publically resigned in disgust with what the Bush Administration has done.

I do not expect our troops to come home before the Iraqi government is replaced, be it weeks or months. I hope they come back with minimal looses. But I do expect that when they leave, they'll leave one sorry unholy mess. And the fact that it will be a different mess isn't a whole lot of comfort.

Not having a nice day,
Charley Noble