On 3/8. I wrote about a Bulgarian soldier killed by U.S. soldiers. I asked,"Just how wound-up are our soldiers? How frightened are they that they "spray with bullets" regular soldiers of the coalition?"

Here's a snippet from the Army investigator's report:

"The gunfire against our patrol was preceded by a terrorist attack on an American logistics convoy nine kilometres (5.6 miles) south of communication post number five and a second attack against a rapid deployment unit of post number six, three to five kilometres (2-3 miles) south of the same post," the statement said citing returns from the investigation.

"As a result the American post was brought under alert with a view to answering a possible attack in its sector of responsibility," the statement said.

"There has been no premeditated intent in the actions of the American servicemen ... but it's a fact that they didn't make enough effort to identify the objects moving on the main road ... and directly opened fire without any warning shots," the statement said.

A reasonable inference can be made from the report that the Iraqi rebel irregulars are having a substantial psychological effect on the U.S. soldiers who are under fire. They are extremely nervous (as rational people would be)but that does not excuse the fact that they failed to identify their targets. Another report specifically noted that the Bulgarians were driving a convoy of three humvees. The U.S. soldiers must have fired blindly because I would think that if they saw humvees their first conclusion would be that the convoy was American or coalition.

The situation is out of control and we need to get the U.S. forces out of Iraq as soon as humanly possible.