Heartwarming tale of U.S. troops relations with Iraqis

[Cocoa]

I have a version of the hawks' complaint about media coverage of Iraq. They say, why is the good news never shown?

After reading this account, my question is, whenever stories about troops interacting with Iraqis is shown on TV, how come it's always about giving the kids soccer balls, how come this kind of thing, which is obviously the reality of any occupation, is NEVER shown?

http://jameswolcott.com/archives/2005/01/kind_of_a_shame.php

There is only one traffic law in Ramadi these days: when Americans approach, Iraqis scatter. Horns blaring, brakes screaming, the midday traffic skids to the side of the road as a line of Humvee jeeps ferrying American marines rolls the wrong way up the main street. Every vehicle, that is, except one beat-up old taxi. Its elderly driver, flapping his outstretched hands, seems, amazingly, to be trying to turn the convoy back. Gun turrets swivel and lock on to him, as a hefty marine sargeant leaps into the road, levels an assault rifle at his turbanned head, and screams: 'Back this bitch up, motherfucker!'

"The old man should have read the bilingual notices that American soldiers tack to their rear bumpers in Iraq: 'Keep 50m or deadly force will be applied.' In Ramadi, the capital of central Anbar province, where 17 suicide-bombs struck American forces during the month-long Muslim fast of Ramadan in the autumn, the marines are jumpy. Sometimes, they say, they fire on vehicles encroaching with 30 metres, sometimes they fire at 20 metres: 'If anyone gets too close to us we fucking waste them,' says a bullish lieutenant. 'It's kind of a shame, because it means we've killed a lot of innocent people.'"

Kind of a shame, killing the people you're trying to democratize, but after awhile, says the same lieutenant, "It gets to the point where you can't wait to see guys with guns, so you start shooting everybody..."

With characteristic dry English understatement, The Economist's embedded reporter (Economist pieces are unbylined) notes, "hen America's well-drilled and well-fed fighters attempt subtler tasks than killing people, problems arise." Their contempt for Iraqis is undisguised and dramatically expressed: a soldier, confronted by "jeering schoolchildren," fires canisters of buckshot from his grenade-launcher at them, and marines busting down doors in Ramadi scream at trembling middle-aged women: "Bitch, where's the guns?"

Small wonder, ventures the correspondent, that "many Iraqis are probably more scared of American troops than of insurgents."

More…

[DenverDem]

1. Hubris riddled stormtroopers.

The USA will be reviled for this episode for the rest of history.

The New Nazis of the 21st century.

[Cocoa]

3. I think it's the situation more than the people

you could see it coming when it became clear we'd be occupying, it doesn't matter who's doing it, that's what it's all about, that's why you try to avoid it. Same with civilian casualties, same with prisoner abuse to some extent.

[DenverDem]

4. It's the situation AND the people.

The soldiers are allowing themselves to be used as tools of evil, no matter the circumstances of their enlistment. You don't HAVE to be a remorseless, indiscriminate killing machine.

[Mr_Spock]

2. Unbelievable.

What an awful situation. We bring them "Genocide for the Holidays" - listen for yourself...

---> Link here ---> http://www.disenfranchisedmusic.com/mp3/gfth.mp3

[denverbill]

5. Anyone who couldn't see this coming is an idiot.

Combine the cockiness, arrogance, ethnocentrism, and we're #1 attitude of a typical gung-ho red state Republican, combine it with 120 degree temperatures, and add in an insurgency in which you can't tell friend from enemy, and guess what? This is exactly what you get.

And unfortunately, it doesn't get any better ever. Because every innocent man you kill creates 100 new enemies, and every enemy that tries to kill you makes you that much more likely to kill a 'suspected' enemy.

[signmike]

6. Dare I mention your avatar...could be considered

a symbol of danger to our president?
Hahahahahaha
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride...