Patterico reports that the Los Angeles Times recently removed crucial information from a reprinted Reuters wire story. The story, covering the March shooting of a car carrying Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena by U.S. forces in Iraq, was doctored by the L.A. Times so that key information supporting the claims of the U.S. military was removed:

An important contested issue in the controversy was the speed of the car as it approached a U.S. checkpoint. Sgrena has maintained that the car was traveling at a “regular speed” — no more than 25-30 mph. Americans have said that the car was traveling at least 50 mph.

[...]

As presented in the L.A. Times, the question of the car’s speed is a “he said, she said” issue, with no definitive evidence that would resolve the disagreement.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

The L.A. Times story is actually an edited version of a Reuters story that appeared on the news service yesterday afternoon. The Reuters story reported that investigators using satellite footage of the incident have conclusively determined that the car was speeding, just as the U.S. has always maintained.

[...]

[T]he Reuters story reported that there is definitive proof that the car was speeding towards the checkpoint — critical information that tends to justify U.S. soldiers’ decision to fire on the car. But in the version appearing in the L.A. Times, editors cut out the passage reporting that proof.

It’ll be interesting to see whether the editors of the L.A. Times respond to this one.