If you only read one thing today, make it this post from Body and Soul.

The Doctrine of American Infallibility

A rambling post in search of a complete thought

"Catholics have fallen out of the healthy old habit of reminding each other how sinful Popes can be." -- Garry Wills

Following hard upon a raid which killed nine Afghan children last week, yesterday the military announced that six more children died in an assault on a weapons compund.

There were enormous differences in tone in the way news outlets headlined the story:

• The BBC was neutral: More Afghan children die in raids
• The New York Times was relatively direct: Military Says 6 Children Died in U.S. Raid in Afghanistan
• The Washington Post more so (although leaving the quick reader with the impression that the dead were legitimate targets): U.S. Kills 8 in Afghan Assault
• The Guardian was harsh: Six children die in fresh US blunder
• But CNN was morally clueless: U.S. assault: Children found dead

Children found dead? We attacked, and later we found some dead children, but we won't be so radical as to assume that the former resulted in the latter? For Christ's sake, are we so politically skittish that we can't tell a simple truth: The US was recently responsible for the deaths of at least 15 children.
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