Yea, those privileged poor folks who pay "no income taxes"! Well, if they are so lucky and are in such an enviable position, why don't the WSJ editorial staff join them? It's easy! Those yachts are a financial burden anyway, aren't they? And the hassle of having to choose a good private school for Skip junior. Who needs that? Oh, for the simple life of those privileged Lucky Ducky poor!

The bankrupt conservative movement and their cheerleaders at the WSJ editorial page, Fox, and other places deserve to be crushed this November.

annony writes:

I think coaches like icing because it makes them feel like they are doing *something*.

Bingo. Coaches already are too involved in the game. Letting them call time-outs as well leads to idiocy like this. Let the players decide the games as much as possible. You'd think coaches could trust their players to do the right things after weeks of preparation, wouldn't you?

Golodh says:

It may be difficult to grasp for US citizens, but their "right to know" does not extend to details within the combat zone. Not even if it concerns the exact circumstances of death of their relatives that serve. And yes, sometimes the truth will have to take a backseat to the best interests of the Army.

I will tell you as a former US Army NCO that this is not in the best interest of the US Army. It is clear to every soldier in that building what happened. It was also clear to their platoon sergeant, but he started right away getting with the official version, given to him by an officer not on the scene.

The word will get around, and trust along the chain of command will take a hit. And when there is no trust in the chain of command things get really bad. Just ask any Vietnam combat vet. The effect will be far more corrosive than the admission of a friendly fire incident could ever be. Most soldiers can accept the friendly fire. We know that confusion is the rule. But systematic and blatant lying? That won't go down well.

verelse, the value of the video is not that it shows the tank firing, but that it shows without doubt and in real time what the soldiers on the spot believe happened. Several soldiers insist it was the tank, insist they saw the muzzle flash, and reported coax fire. Doesn't sound like a mortar attack to me. Telling us we just can't understand is not a valid argument. The video allows the soldiers on the spot to speak for themselves. They understand what it's like. And tell me, how is telling the truth the "destruction of more soldiers to satisfy the desires of those who neither understand them nor care to"? What evidence have you for the vile accusation that the "destruction of more soldiers" would satisfy anyone? And how is telling the mother the truth--that in the confusion of battle her son died in a regrettable friendly fire incident, that the Army regrets her loss extremely--a gruesome detail that is not required? Sorry, but your argument is incoherent.

Imagine having to even suffer foreign tanks in your neighborhood? Will we ever even consider that side of things?

And that is a whole other dimension. Not the subject of the article, but it is to the point. What we are doing in Iraq is simply immoral. There can be no justification for waging aggressive war, and that is what we are doing in Iraq. Nelson and Suarez died not because a tank commander made a mistake. They died because President George W. Bush launched an illegal war, and they died because the vast majority of the citizens of this country acquiesced. When you launch a war, you are responsible for whatever happens, and that includes the death of an estimated half million Iraqis.

Quite apart from the moral issue there is also the issue of equivalence. How many of us would tolerate a foreign nation invading us and driving their tanks around our neighborhoods? I hope that is none of us. So how is it we thought we would be welcome? We need to get out of there ASAP, and we need to pay the Iraqis reparations. That is the only decent, honorable course of action we have remaining to us.

Sorry I misunderstood your argument, man. But I think your worry is misplaced. I don't think there are too many people out for the blood of the tank crewmen. I don't even think that that is what Nelson's mom is after. She just wants a straight answer. It was a terrible mistake and I feel for them, if they understand their responsibility.

But the brass lying about it, and asking the soldiers involved to buy into this lie, that is just not right. And I'm glad you agree. If I am one of the guys on the ground I want to know that the Army is dealing with the problem (not punishing, but learning and preventing). Instead, everything they've done and said sends the message that they are in denial.