Another day, another outrage

Another day, another outrage. The problem is we're getting desensitized to these things. When I read this, I almost said, "No surprises there."

A Pentagon group has encouraged some U.S. military snipers in Iraq to target suspected insurgents by scattering pieces of "bait," such as detonation cords, plastic explosives and ammunition, and then killing Iraqis who pick up the items, according to military court documents.

The classified program was described in investigative documents related to recently filed murder charges against three snipers who are accused of planting evidence on Iraqis they killed.

Just to put this in perspective though. As I understand it, the unemployment rate in Iraq exceeds 60%, so there are lots and lots of poor, unemployed, nearly starving young Iraqi dudes walking around the streets. The so-called "bait" our snipers are putting out there has a market value, probably a significant market value, to insurgents of all types from Sunnis to Shia Militia, to al Qaeda. So, this is like leaving a gold coin in the street. It's hard to believe almost anyone wouldn't be tempted to pick the stuff up and sell it to get their next scrap of bread.