Rage Against The Page

This post title appeared on digg.com : US official: Blackwater hit car with kids to avoid traffic It hit a car with kids? Impressive. But why resort to hurling children at the enemy? What we have here is another case of failure to communicate. More murderous grammar. This is the story : The kids in the back seat looked back in horror, mouths agape at the sight of the heavily armored Suburbans driven by large, armed men in dark sunglasses. The poor Iraqi driver frantically searched for a means of escape, but there was none. So the lead Blackwater vehicle smashed heedlessly into the car, pushing it into the barrier. Yes, that's an awful situation. One of many, many awful things going on over there. Putting the content aside for a moment, let's consider the form. Is the sentence ambiguous? Yes it is. Is that a problem? Yes. Ambiguous is to writing what a Stop sign is to driving. No, it's more. It's a Go Back sign. Ambiguity forces the reader to backtrack, reread, and fig...