From the pages of “winning hearts and minds”:

U.S. helicopters attacked allied Iraqi militiamen south of the capital on Saturday, killing at least nine civilians and wounding three, apparently because of a miscommunication during fighting with suspected Islamist gunmen.

An Iraqi police spokesman put the death toll at 13. Casualties included two women and a child.

In a statement released Monday, the military acknowledged that U.S. forces mistakenly targeted a checkpoint being manned by militiamen who are members of the local U.S.-allied awakening council, the name given to the predominantly Sunni Muslim groups that have joined the United States to battle militants affiliated with al Qaida in Iraq.

I bet the Iraqis want another 100 years of this also. Vote McCain!