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Edited on Sat Nov-15-03 07:46 AM by Paschall
The US sergeant's elite force was conducting the first foot patrols in this "hostile" Iraqi city since Saddam's fall. They had received a tip that there was a weapons cache in the home of a wealthy Iraqi businessman suspected of supporting "insurgents." Entering the house, they discovered that all the cabinets and closets had been emptied; the contents were neatly arranged in piles, ready for the search. Obviously the household had been expecting the US troops' visit.
The patrol confronted the wife outside, with the help of the only translator available, an American GI. (All the Iraqi translators in the city had been killed or fled.)
"We know you have weapons. Where are they?" the translator asked.
"We don't have any weapons," she answered, stroking her little great-niece's head.
The sergeant then asked the translator, "Do you want me to hit her? I can slap her right now!"
There was no slap, and the Americans returned to their quarters, an empty home they had requisitioned.
When the owner of the house unexpectedly showed up with his young son, the translator apologized and said the man and his family would have to find somewhere else to stay. The man protested and asked why the troops had removed all the furniture and appliances from the house and stacked them in the yard. The translator said they would protect his belongings if there was rain or a sandstorm. After the man insisted, the troops finally righted the upturned refrigerator and allowed him to take a space heater and VCR. Meanwhile, the troops relaxed on his living room furniture under the shade of the porch awning. Inside, other soldiers tried to get comfortable on their bedrolls in a room where they had just knocked out a portion of wall with sledge hammers.
"I lost my best friend, and three other buddies were injured in an explosion. One lost his leg. I don't care if the Iraqis die." one young soldier commented.
"If they don't stop attacking us, I say just level the place and turn it into a parking lot," commented another.
Earlier, during the patrol, the sergeant left two troops to guard an Iraqi family outside their home while others searched the house. Just as the sergeant stepped inside, the gray-bearded husband moved toward the door, asking the troops to be careful with his possessions. The sergeant whipped around with his machine gun raised, and screamed, "Get back! Get back! Soldier, if he tries that again, blow his head off! If you don't, I'll blow yours off! I don't want anyone in my back!" The young soldier stepped between the old man and the door.
These are scenes (recorded here from fallible memory) that aired on a news magazine on French television last week. The reporters, who had been in Iraq when "major combat" ended, said the atmosphere has dramatically worsened. None of the soldiers in this unit--with the exception of the sergeant--had any combat experience before arriving in Iraq. The unit's colonel is a recent officers' training graduate. As he gingerly poked the muzzle of his machine gun through the belongings of the Iraqis he said, "I try to imagine how I would feel if this were happening to me in America, if foreign troops were searching my home. So I try to treat the Iraqis with respect." Later he said, "I can't let my troops see it, but I really have my doubts about what we're doing here. I just don't know if it's right."
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