The New York Sun calls attention to a little-noticed fact in a recent column by David Ignatius of The Washington Post.

"There may be an unlimited supply of explosives in Iraq, but there is not an unlimited supply of people who know how to wire the detonators," Mr. Ignatius reported. "In 2004, CIA operatives in Iraq believed that they had identified the signatures of 11 bomb makers. They proposed a diabolical — but potentially effective — sabotage program that would have flooded Iraq with booby-trapped detonators designed to explode in the bomb makers' hands. But the CIA general counsel's office said no. The lawyers claimed that the agency lacked authority for such an operation, one source recalled."

Wow. Just, wow. Why in the heck wouldn't you want to kill bomb-makers in Iraq using this method? What is legal about killing them in a hail of gunfire from U.S. Marines, but it is of questionable legality to booby trap their bombmaking equipment?