With friends like these ...

... the Kurds don't need enemies. After spending the morning sliming 5 dead Kurdish guards as al Qaeda terrorists, the truth comes out --

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. helicopters on Friday mistakenly killed at least five Kurdish troops, a group that Washington hopes to enlist as a partner to help secure Iraq, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

The Kurdish deaths occurred about midnight in eastern Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. The U.S. military said the airstrike was targeting al-Qaida fighters, but later issued an apology, saying the five men killed had been identified as Kurdish police.

Kurdish officials put the casualty toll at eight killed and six wounded, and said the men were guarding a branch of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan — led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a key supporter of U.S. efforts in Iraq.

No doubt everyone on the US side was "following the rules of engagement."