The ‘blogs are alight with accusations that George Bush kills children (what else is new), their evidence is a shooting that happened in a town in Iraq named Tal Afar, where the parents of 6 children were killed when they failed to stop for a patrol after dusk. You can read the account of the photographer, who was there and took the heart-wrenching pictures of the children that are spreading across the net like wildfire. Sites like National Catholic Reporter and WarBlogging are trying to use this incident to claim that Iraq is no more free than it was before the US Liberation.

To me the photographer’s account clearly describes a tragic situation where the soldiers did their best to stop a car, but in a country where car-bombs are one of the terrorists weapon of choice you quickly reach the decision point where you have to save the lives of your troops. The facts as presented: This happened at dusk. There is a curfew (I am not sure when it is in effect, but dusk is traditionally when you want everyone inside). The car appeared to be accelerating. It did not stop after warning shots were fired. So far this year (in less than a month!) 5 car-bombs have attacked check-points in the area.

ed.