NEWSFLASH: Massive truck bomb blows up UN HQ in Baghdad

It's ironic to think that UN workers in Iraq were probably safer working there under Saddam than now when the US is in charge. CNN reports 13 casualties from this latest terrorist bombing but that number will, sadly, probably go up. It's also reported that Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the top UN official in Iraq, is somewhere alive in the rubble.

The coalition will have some questions to answer, specifically with regard to "soft targets" like the UN HQ. Remember, the UN's only mission in Iraq is humanitarian assistance - they've been shut out of the WMD search and peacekeeping. So for remnant Baathists to target the UN makes little sense, unless it's part of some scorched-earth policy where anything's game. Is it time for a readjustment of the forces deployed to beef up security at aid workers' offices and other civilian buildings? We've already seen the bungled handling of security at the Baghdad museums. Perhaps this bombing will serve as a wake-up call to the Bush administration that they need to get more people to Iraq to guard more places. Fast.

UPDATE: de Mello's dead