A Checkpoint in Baghdad

"Old Europe," (to borrow Don Rumsfeld's phrase) and its compatriots in our mainstream press, are still atwitter over that recent shooting of an Italian journalist by U.S. troops in Iraq. The incident occurred shortly after the journalist had been freed by her terrorist kidnappers. The reporter in question, Giluliana Sgrena, claims that she was deliberately targeted, because the U.S. opposes negotiations with terrorists. In today's issue of the Washington Times, Rowan Scarborough puts the incident in an entirely different light. Seems that Ms. Sgrena's rescuer (an Italian intelligence officer who died in the shooting) failed to coordinate her escape with the U.S. military. Oops...

Roger L. Simon advanced a similar theory a couple of days ago. As a former spook, his idea sounds entirely plausible; it would be easy for the bad guys to arrange Ms. Sgrena's release, then pass word that a blacked-out, speeding car would target an American checkpoint. The result? A propaganda windfall for the terrorists, who have had little to cheer about lately.