Key point: This is a wonderful lose - lose - lose situation for the USA.

If we don't turn over our soldiers to a Spanish court, relations between our two countries will be further strained. Of course, if we do, our military morale will take a hit as our soldiers loathe begin second-guessed on combat decisions by people who were not there and can't understand (Redleg's comments highlight this.

If the tank crew fires at a suspected enemy position, they may target and kill non combatants or friendlies -- not at all what you want on your conscience. If they don't fire, then one of those suspected positions will prove to be an actual and they or their fellow soldiers will end up dead.

If the US restricts allied journalists from war zones to prevent such incidents, we exceed our rights and impinge freedom of speech. If we don't, then folks trying to do their job get put in harms way and may end up with their lives hanging on someone's battlefied decision -- made under stress and without the best information.

This Iraq struggle is a real bite in the posterior. As far as I can tell from opinion polls, every single one of our allies -- save the ones in Eastern Europe -- would like an immediate pullout followed by a shut-down of all non-police efforts against terrorism. The general tenor seems to be "we can't defeat it, you are fools to try, we need to minimize it a bit, catch them when we can, but basically learn to live with it."

Gah!