Military Is 'Baiting' Insurgents In Iraq (Snipers using Items as Bait)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Washington Post

A Pentagon group has encouraged some U.S. military snipers in Iraq to target suspected insurgents by scattering pieces of "bait," such as detonation cords, plastic explosives and ammunition, and then killing Iraqis who pick up the items, according to military court documents.

The classified program was described in investigative documents related to recently filed murder charges against three snipers who are accused of planting evidence on Iraqis they killed.

"Baiting is putting an object out there that we know they will use, with the intention of destroying the enemy," Capt. Matthew P. Didier, the leader of an elite sniper scout platoon attached to the 1st Battalion of the 501st Infantry Regiment, said in a sworn statement. "Basically, we would put an item out there and watch it. If someone found the item, picked it up and attempted to leave with the item, we would engage the individual as I saw this as a sign they would use the item against U.S. Forces."

In documents obtained by The Washington Post from family members of the accused soldiers, Didier said members of the the U.S. military's Asymmetric Warfare Group visited his unit in January and later passed along ammunition boxes filled with the "drop items" to be used "to disrupt the AIF attempts at harming Coalition Forces and give us the upper hand in a fight."



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/23/AR2007092301431.html?hpid=topnews

---

And how many innocent Iraqis have picked up one of these "items" and had their brains blown out?

[bemildred]

1. This is just amazingly stupid. nt

[LiberalFighter]

28. Sounds like something General Betrayus would do

[mallard]

31. Re: Has "sniper" become ...

... an actual job title at this point?

[Tesha]

36. It always has been (an actual job title). (NT)

[Newsjock]

2. U.S. military now getting its tactics from 'Candid Camera'

Wasn't that an old Allan Funt stunt ... leaving a wallet on the sidewalk to see who would pick it up? At least the only thing Funt ever shot anyone with was a camera.

[krispos42]

3. "By Allah! I'd better get this roll of detcord out of here before some kids find it!"

And then.....

[RamboLiberal]

4. Love your smiley sniper - where did you get? n/t

[krispos42]

7. Strangest place...

or maybe not so strange...

Memphis Racing Scene Forums. They've got some truly eye-poppings ones there!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=102&topic_id=3003349&mesg_id=3003358

[RamboLiberal]

11. Thanks - I think you didn't post link you wanted to

You have a DU link instead there. I wouldn't know where to find on forum you mentioned w/o a map :)

[krispos42]

12. Oh, duh!

Try this instead...

http://www.memphisracingscene.com/vb/misc.php?do=showsmilies

[LiberalFighter]

27. Or better get rid of this before the Americans start wiping us out...

cause they think we have contraband

[soothsayer]

5. "Hey, who left all this garbage lying here?" BANG!

[wtmusic]

6. F*cking sick -- AND a war crime

Hoping that the engagers get engaged.

[Tom Joad]

8. The US military is run by genocidal dumbasses. and the GI's pay with their lives.

[tuckessee]

9. Seems like a lot more Iraqis are paying with theirs.

And they didn't sign up for anything.

[Tom Joad]

10. they are just defending their nation against an armed belligerent invasion.

or more often than not, just trying to go about their lives.

[arewenotdemo]

35. So true.

This reminds me of the scene in Schindler's List where the Nazi Commandant got his jollies by sniping Jews in the prison yard.

[razzleberry]

13. if someone is holding an ammo box, in a war zone ...

don't be too surprised when they get shot.
legit target

people in a war zone, know the rules

[intaglio]

14. Well apparently the snipers do not know the rules of war

An ordinary Iraqi sees the makings of a bomb wants to clear it so kids do not get hold of it. They cannot phone using a phonebox (infrastructure shut down), they cannot go to a US army base to report it (suicide, because the Jihadis will get 'em afterwards), cellphone will keep a record (Jihadis again) plus difficulties of keeping it charged plus not much of the cellphone network works.

Social responsibility becomes a capital offense because of these dumb-ass snipers.

I actually suspect that the real reason is the old "body count" game that was such a massive failure in Vietnam.

[razzleberry]

15. would you pick up something that might be a booby-trap?

I wouldn't.

both sides likely have specialists in ordnance clearance.

take your pick, on which side to choose

[sam sarrha]

16. unemployment is 85% people are picking up anything to sell and feed their families.. it isnt like we

are the good guys in this war... what we are doing could be consicered genocide, after killing a million civilions and displacing millions, there are 4 million refugees inside iraq , 3X that left the country.

[acmavm]

17. WTF? Our military is shooting people that pick up weapons making

materials off THEIR STREETS??? Shit they left there intentionally so they can shoot them??? In THEIR COUNTRY??? OH, and they're all supposed to know what the fuck the stuff is????

Is that you General Betrayus????

[razzleberry]

18. the stuff is sold

if it doesn't blow up

scavengers know the risks

[Kagemusha]

20. Yeah, scavengers in what, 70%, 80% unemployment areas?

All insurgents, yeah. Grrrr.

[razzleberry]

21. I never implied, that their life was easy.

Insurgents are the obvious customers,
of would-be explosives sellers.

help one side,
expect the other side to be upset

[WileEcoyote]

25. The meaning of the word "Insurgent"

is doctor, lawyer, auto mechanic, barber from BEFORE the U.S. slaughter started in 2003.

[alcibiades_mystery]

33. I'll take you seriously when you learn how to use a comma

Oh, and when you stop making ludicrous arguments justifying this despicable practice.

[coalition_unwilling]

48. You are justifying (poorly) ill-disguised extra-judicial assasinations,

aka, "WAR CRIMES"

[leftchick]

19. Iraq is their HOME

and it is an Occupation not a War Zone. Therefor the US are legitimate targets to the occupied resistance.

[Judi Lynn]

22. It's THEIR COUNTRY. We should not be there. Whatever "rules" have been created

are in operation in the wrong place. These people have NOT asked to be harmed. They are in their own homeland, trying to save what's left of their world.

Everyone else needs to butt out.

[krkaufman]

23. Really? But isn't this an occupation, now, and aren't the Iraqis supposed to be standing up?

So when an Iraqi picks up an odd item to, perhaps, dispose of it, it's just unfortunate that he/she neglected to read our cleverly-named "Occupation Rules!" handbook... inconveniently, only ever published in English?

[RaleighNCDUer]

30. Crap.

Empty ammo boxes have a lot of uses, particulary in a country that has been impovershed by a half-decade of war. Why would they think it is anything but legitimate salvage?

[Mojorabbit]

45. As an average person

I don't know the rules of a war zone. Do the Iraqis get some kind of memo.

[Tom Joad]

46. Iraqis are NEVER legitimate targets. The US illegally invaded Iraq.

Iraqis are the victims, not the enemy.

[coalition_unwilling]

47. These are extra-judicial assassinations of highly questionable

legality, war zone or no.

[moggie]

24. This is what happens when you dehumanise "the enemy"

You start thinking in black and white terms: "anyone who picks up this stuff must be a bad guy". And if an innocent Iraqi does get killed, well, shit, it's not like killing a real person, is it?

[Vinca]

26. Let's see. Unemployment in Iraq is at 50% and people still have to eat.

Some poor slob bends over to pick up something he thinks he might be able to sell and he's blown away. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out why they hate us so much. Do they pick off kids, too?

[rodeodance]

29. I saw a clip of an Iraqi being arrested for picking up some used wire that the

US said would be used for explosives. he is in jail as far as I know---His mother was wailing and a relative said he was just going to sell it for some money for the family.

[Broadslidin]

32. Simply, U.S. Style Street Justice. The Timothy McVeigh' of the world Must Love It.

If it moves, just Shoot It.

The Vietnam tradition of murdering the 'sub-humans' continues.

[Whoa_Nelly]

34. I'm sorry, Iraq

I'm trying to stop the insanity.

I am so sorry, Iraq :cry:

[Judi Lynn]

37. The article gets worse as you go through it. From page #2:

~snip~
Spec. Jorge Sandoval and Staff Sgt. Michael Hensley are accused by the military of placing a spool of wire into the pocket of an Iraqi man Sandoval had shot on April 27 on Hensley's order. The man had been cutting grass with a rusty sickle when he was shot, according to court documents.

The military alleges that the killing of the man carrying the sickle was inappropriate. Hensley and Sandoval have been charged with murder and with planting evidence.

As Sandoval and Hensley approached the corpse, according to testimony and court documents, they allegedly placed a spool of wire, often used by insurgents to detonate roadside bombs, into the man's pocket in an attempt to make the case for the kill ironclad.

One soldier who came forward with the allegations, Pfc. David C. Petta, told the same court that he believed the classified items were for dropping on people the unit had killed, "to enforce if we killed somebody that we knew was a bad guy but we didn't have the evidence to show for it." Petta had not been officially briefed about the program.
(snip)

Vela and Hensley told investigators that the man had an AK-47 with him and that he posed a threat, but other soldiers have alleged that the AK-47 was planted next to Khudair after he was shot.
(snip)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Only evil people would approve of what has happened to Iraq.

[gratuitous]

41. Planting contraband post-mortem?

Well, people in war zones know the risks, after all. So provocative acts like cutting grass, or walking down the street, are likely to cost you your life. And then, after the trigger-happy thugs have blown you away, they throw down a spool of wire or a piece of detonator cord and wall-ah! another terrorist to add to the casualty list.

Medals all around!

[Judi Lynn]

43. Very similar to the U.S. funded Colombian military guys who have been caught

dressing the bodies of unarmed, unsuspecting Colombian peasants they have slaughtered in the clothing of rebel soldiers.

_{George W. Bush} sends our TAX DOLLARS to help finance these Colombian guys.

One more instance of murdering innocents, stealing their lives, plunging their loved ones into inconsolable loss, grief, and shock, while pretending they're the enemy, all bankrolled by the U.S. taxpayers who will go to JAIL if they refuse to contribute their money (substance, support) yearly, while supporting fabulous tax breaks for the idle rich.

[Buzz Clik]

38. The reason why entrapment is viewed negatively is because you sometimes catch the innocent.

As mentioned earlier on this thread, someone simply could be moving it either as trash or potentially hazardous, and suddenly they stop a bullet.

Every person killed in this way likely will be labeled "al Qaeda", no doubt because they carry membership cards, wear their al Qaeda sweatshirts at all times, and have "terrorist" emblazened on their foreheads.

[happygoluckytoyou]

39. IN A RELATED STORY--- SEVERAL DICKS WERE RECENTLY FOUND IN A STALL IN MINNEAPOLIS

[happygoluckytoyou]

40. what would you expect from----

what would you expect from a cowardly group who starts an illegal war, and strikes the first blow because they "think" the other guy might want to fight....

PREEMPTIVE... is not only scary, it is cowardly

i know, and we all know, how tough it is to wait until the crime is committed before convicting a person---
BUT AMONG OTHERS, THAT IS ONE OF OUR COUNTRY'S FOUNDING PRINCIPLES---
....hence the situation in MINORITY REPORT being seen by Americans as unfair


SO WHEN YOU MEET THIS SNIPER IN 10 YEARS AND HE BRAGS ABOUT HIS JOB... ANY CHANCE YOU'LL MENTION THIS TO HIM

WHEN YOU MEET ONE OF THESE "MY CHILD IS IN IRAQ SAVING THE WORLD" MAYBE YOU SHOULD ASK WHAT WORK THEY ARE DOING?

I KNOW THAT THE ONES WHO GOT "STUCK" IN AMERICA'S ILLEGAL WAR AREN'T QUITE AT FAULT, BUT
IF THEY ENLISTED AFTER THE WAR STARTED... ARE THEY STILL THE TROOPS WE SHOULD SUPPORT

[coalition_unwilling]

49. PREEMPTIVE . . is also illegal, viz. Hitler's invasion of

Poland in 1939 and subsequent precedents laid down by Nuremburg and the U.N. Charter

[FormerRepub]

42. Insurgent baiting

The Sunni tribal sheiks in Anbar province were formerly known as "insurgents" and fair game for snipers, etc. Now they're our best buddies. I wonder how many potential allies we've killed with this baiting tactic. I wonder when the WWII term "The Ugly American" will be pulled out of the mothballs.

[SpikeTss]

44. No Iraqi civilians were murdered by US snipers during this campaign

No, REALLY!

I'm out of words in the face of those bleak events. :(