The death penalty for staring

If you believe that it takes 20 "terrorists" to plant a roadside bomb, or that 50 "terrorists" would gather in one place to get blasted by a rocket, well, you probably shouldn't read any further. Anyway, while the Pentagon will doubtless be trotting out its line that they don't target civilians, it's abundantly clear that they have a policy of targeting any site where US troops were recently killed, knowing full well that lots of people gather in those areas to see the aftermath of the previous incident. This appears to be explanation for the lesser of the two major death tolls today, and it's happened before:

Baghdad, September 2004 via BBC: At least 13 people were killed and about 60 others were wounded by US helicopter fire as they milled around the burning wreckage of an American armoured vehicle that had been ambushed by insurgents early in the morning.

News footage shows a few dozen curious Iraqis standing around the Bradley Fighting Vehicle just before the missile strike.

When exactly will pro-lifers have something to say about the Commander-in-Chief who oversees these policies?

UPDATE 16 NOV: Links and a picture from the Baghdad incident from Progressive Ireland.