WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT REALLY HAPPENED

Nationalism has been on heightened display in the United States and China these past few days. This is serious business, of course. The fate of 24 U.S. military men and women who were aboard a surveillance plane is at stake. The plane made an emergency landing on a Chinese island after it and a Chinese jet fighter collided. The pilot of the Chinese plane is presumed dead.

While most Americans and Chinese have formed fiercely loyal stands on who is at fault in this matter, the plain fact is that most civilians in either country know very little about what actually happened in international air space near the China coast. But assumptions are easy to jump to. China says our pilot caused the accident. We say the Chinese pilot was hotdogging.

But we don't know. All we can really do is wonder. One Speak Out caller even provided some comic relief by wondering if this incident would jeopardize delivery of all those berets we've ordered from China for our Army personnel. A little humor a least helps ease some of the tension.