Left I on the News

This one another wedding party (this report says 27 dead). There are rather conflicting reports of the incident, to put it mildly.

From the U.S. military:

"We have had no reports of any non-combatants killed or injured in this incident," said 1st Lt. Nathan Perry. "This may just be normal, typical militant propaganda."

The U.S. military issued a statement, saying "intelligence revealed a large group of militants operating in Deh Bala district. Coalition forces identified the militants in a mountainous region and used precision air strikes to kill them."

And from the local governor:

Haji Amishah Gul, governor of Deh Bala, told the Times just two of the dead were men. The rest, he said, were women and children.

"The bride is among the dead," he said.

Gosh, who to believe? Other than relying on decades of lies from the U.S. military to guide you as to their credibility, it's unlikely you'll be able to decide by reading the U.S. corporate press, since after tomorrow, your chances of reading about the story, beyond yet another story about Afghan President Karzai "ordering an investigation" into the incident, are slim to none. Partly that's because the chance that the Democrats will seek to turn it into a political issue are also slim to none, since their own criticism of U.S. policy in Afghanistan is that we should have been doing it sooner.

In the news today is the reaction to George Bush's decision to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Personally, I think it's time for China to say that George Bush isn't welcome. The head of a nation that has so little respect for human rights that it butchers civilians on a daily basis really shouldn't be accepted in polite company.