While in theater, the aircraft provided heavy lift support during the deployment, and provided critical support during the aftermath of the tragic October 23 bombing of the Marine barracks.

Relations between the United States and China were severely strained by the tragic accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in May 1999.

To the Editor: In the aftermath of the tragic bombing in Baghdad (front page, Aug. 20), many have speculated that Iraqis do not welcome United Nations involvement in reconstruction.

"You get a sense of widespread indignation within officialdom itself here about this tragic bombing of the Chinese Embassy," he said, even as the demonstrations continued outside his compound.

"The issue of personal culpability in the events leading up to the tragic bombing is certainly important," Mr. Spence said.

Often abbreviated to OKC, Oklahoma City is known around the world for the tragic 1995 bombing of the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building by domestic terrorists.

"In the wake of Oklahoma City, Congress promised to send me the bill six weeks after the tragic bombing," Mr. Clinton said in his weekly radio address.

He described it as "a bill to strengthen Australia's counter-terrorism laws in a number of respects - a task made more urgent following the recent tragic terrorist bombings in Spain."

But it is important to distinguish between how the Iraqi leadership wants the West to think about that tragic bombing and how they themselves probably thought about it.

It was inspired by the tragic bombing of Gernika on 26 April 1937.