Sad Day in Iraq

In what was the deadliest day for US troops since the war in Iraq began, 5 American troops were killed by insurgents, and 31 marines died in a helicopter crash in Iraq’s western desert:

A Bush administration official said the cause of Wednesday's crash was not immediately known but that there was bad weather at the time.

[…]

A search and rescue team has reached the site and an investigation into what caused the crash was under way.

Who knows what the truth about this accident is—we’ll probably never know. But of all the likely scenarios, bad weather seems to be the most improbable. That is not to suggest that it’s impossible—sand in the gears, high winds, all that—but in a war zone with insurgents regularly attacking troops, multiple reports of poorly performing equipment, and accounts of troops performing tasks for which they are not properly trained in attempts to delay a (probably inevitable) draft, I’m just saying that bad weather is maybe not the real reason for this tragedy. (See: Occam’s Razor.)

And it’s a shame that we will probably never know the truth, only instead the official story—a designed truth conveniently conforming to the war narrative the administration is touting that day. It’s a shame because if it really is anything but the weather, there’s a responsibility to the troops who will take those marines’ places to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen again. But you’ve got to know what happened in the first place.

Bush expressed his condolences for the deaths. "The story today is going to be very discouraging to the American people. I understand that. It is the long-term objective that is vital — that is to spread freedom."

Hoo-rah.