Give a boy a gun, he'll shoot anything

Talk about your collateral damage! The Turkish press is reporting that our lads are shooting, and killing, Iraqi military brass. An Iraqi general, of all things, was shot dead on his way home from work!

RAMADI, Iraq - The deputy commander of the Iraqi army in western Al-Anbar province was shot dead by US troops at a checkpoint Tuesday night, a police officer said.

The US forces opened fire at 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Brigadier General Ismail Swayed al-Obeid, who had left his base in Baghdadi to head home," police Captain Amin al-Hitti said.

"They spotted him on the road after the curfew, which goes into effect at 6 pm," the officer said in Baghdadi, 185 kilometres (142 miles) west of the capital.

No immediate reaction was available from the US military.

When I was in the service, this was considered a no-no.

The Italians are headed for home. This follows on the heels of the attempted assasination of an Italian journalist, fired on by US troops at a Baghdad checkpoint. Of course, they didn't say it outright, and our govm't is claiming that this is just in the normal course of events, but what with a low opinion of the war by Italians anyway, the timing seems a bit suspect.