Thank you for pointing that out. You beat me to it. the improper use of "begs the question" is one of my pet peeves.
Well, the argument for this thread, I think, DOES "beg the question" in a coupla areas:
"Since these smoke trails come out of the explosions, then they must be from Iraqi ordnance, and the Iraqis are therefore responsible for ordnance hitting civilian centers."
This may be correct speculation, but it is fallacious to conclude anything about the fires from this picture of smoke.
I thought about "begs the question" too, but I see it all the time in other publications and didn't want to bag on a fellow FReeper.