Identity Crisis

Just a week after U.S. troops in Iraq killed Italian agent Nicola Calipari and wounded freed hostage Giuliana Sgrena, a similar incident emerged involving another U.S. ally: Bulgaria.

On the evening that the Italians were shot, U.S. troops near the Iraqi city of Diwaniya killed a Bulgarian soldier, Gurdi Gurdev, whose patrol had stopped 150 m short of a U.S. checkpoint without realizing it was there. The Bulgarians, according to a letter posted on the Web by a "combat buddy" of the deceased, fired warning shots at a civilian Iraqi vehicle that was approaching them. "The Americans didn't...