The recent deaths of an Italian journalist and Bulgarian soldier at US checkpoints in Iraq are the subject of a long post by Dick. I have to admit I don't know much about how these checkpoints work, but from this layman's position it would seem that there should be a way to avoid civilian and friendly forces deaths at checkpoints.
Of course, as Dick notes, there's more than a little bit of politicking coming into the issue of who's responsible for these deaths in the cases of the two Europeans. If you're a politician under pressure for involving your troops in Iraq in the first place it can hardly help your case if you are seen to take a conciliatory line towards the US position when your people are killed by American forces.
For an alternative to the European perspective on the checkpoints, read this by Bartle Breese Bull, an unembedded freelance journalist who says he has "safely driven through scores of American roadblocks all over this country".
