Over 40 people died in four separate attacks overnight in Baghdad, including one particularly despicable attack using a Red Crescent vehicle:

Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling of the U.S. Army confirmed that the attack on the Red Cross compound was a suicide bombing.

"Initial indicators, and we're trying to confirm this, but we have eyewitnesses that say that the truck was, in fact, a Red Cross-Red Crescent truck, carrying the explosives -- like a panel van, a little bit larger," Hertling said. ... Red Cross officials vowed to continue their work in Iraq despite the attack.

Good for them -- they do good work and are neutral in all conflicts. Normally this would keep them from being targeted in armed conflict, but as the UN has learned, no respect is given for neutrality:

"Maybe it was an illusion to think people would understand after 23 years that we are unbiased. I can't understand why we've been targeted," Doumani said. The ICRC has been providing humanitarian assistance in Iraq since 1980.

The answer is that the people who do things like this have no respect for neutrals, the assistance they give, nor the people the Red Cross serve, which are the Iraqis themselves. At least the Red Cross has more balls than the UN -- they're not bugging out at the first setback.

Updated 8:00 am CST to correct death count and some minor grammar errors.

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