Is It Collateral Damage, or Murder?

WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting a shooting (they called it indiscriminate slaying) of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff. Reuters had been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site, clearly shows the shooting (again they say unprovoked slaying) of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.



WikiLeaks calls it collateral murder. What do you think?

What would you think if a foreign country did that in an American city/town? Is it necessary to point out the harm done to world opinion?

Was the Iraq war worth the cost?

P.S. It reminds me of the death of Victor Steen.

How Now Republi-CONs

Which party will lead the way forward? Read The New York Times, Who’s Up for Building Bridges?

"It takes more than just saying no to thrive in the 21st century."

Religious Evil

UPDATE III: "On Good Friday, the Pope's personal preacher suggested in his sermon that criticism of the Pope reminded him of shameful aspects of anti-Semitism." Read or listen to, NPR, 'Churchgate': The Scandal That Won't Go Away.

So is it bigotry? Read Vanity Fair, The Catholics Aren't the Jews, They're the Soviets.


UPDATE II: "Why is the Catholic Church more prone to self-pity than self-reflection?" Read The New York Times, Devil of a Scandal.


UPDATE: "The Catholic Church, which gave up its credibility for Lent, can’t hide behind smoke and mystique as it faces a cascade of child sexual abuse cases." Read The New York Times, Should There Be an Inquisition for the Pope?

"As an archbishop in Germany, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope, expended more energy pursuing theological dissidents than sexual predators." Read The New York Times, Doctrine Preoccupied Benedict as Archbishop.

More Changey Stuff

To allow, or not to allow, proper nouns? Read the Washington Post, U.S. players react to news that new Scrabble version will allow proper nouns.

Get over it people, it's just a game.