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Marla Ruzicka, a Global Exchange field worker in Afghanistan, said the most common factor behind the civilian deaths has been an American reliance on incomplete information to decide on targets. "Smart bombs are only as smart as people on the ground," Ms. Ruzicka said. "Before you bomb, you should be 100 percent certain of who you are bombing." So what is this Global Exchange, which Filkins describes only as "an American organization"? A look at its Web site makes clear it's a far-left outfit that opposed any military intervention in Afghanistan. Blogger Michael Moynihan has more details on Marla Ruzicka, who turns out to be a fervent admirer of Fidel Castro. There's also a "report" on the 2000 election dispute from the World Socialist Web Site, which quotes her as suggesting Republicans are terrorists: Marla Ruzicka, 23, an officially accredited observer from the Green Party, commented on the tactics of the Bush supporters. She described them as "really nasty. There was one guy with a bald head, like a skinhead. They surrounded me and called me a baby killer, because of my support for the right to abortion. When I pointed out Bush's presiding over the death penalty, they said: no, no, that's justice. They're scary. Maybe they're the ones who should be on the terrorist lists." Ruzicka, of course, is entitled to her opinions--but surely her extremist political agenda is relevant to Filkins's readers in determining how much weight to give to her comments. Meanwhile, buried in the 16th paragraph of Filkins's story is an admission that the whole thing is trumped up: "Indeed, the extraordinary accuracy of American airstrikes since they began in October has produced few of the types of disasters that plagued past wars, when bombs aimed at one target hit something else instead." Oh well, never mind.[WSJ Opinion Page--James Taranto]

FMCDH(BITS)

"more details on Marla Ruzicka, who turns out to be a fervent admirer of Fidel Castro. There's also a "report" on the 2000 election dispute from the World Socialist Web Site, which quotes her as suggesting Republicans are terrorists"

Anyone who admires Fidel Castro, the war crimes butcher of the innocent in Angola, automatically forfeits their rights to the moral high ground in criticizing war casualties.

Global Exchange is the Mothership for Code Pink. GE pulls in about SIX MILLION a year, mainly from organizing tours to places like Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, Iran and alike.

We spend money to send our kids to Space Camp so they can pretend to be Astronauts. The liberals spend their money to send themselves on a "Code Pink Holiday" so they can pretend to be Communist Rebels!