McClatchy: In Baghdad, even babies quickly learn to duck snipers

[babylonsister]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/17896.html

In Baghdad, even babies quickly learn to duck snipers
By Mike Drummond and Hussein Khalifa | McClatchy Newspapers


BAGHDAD — Nawal Na'eem Karim was surprised this week to hear her toddler tell her, "Talaq inana! Talaq inana!" — "Bullets here! Bullets here!"

He was warning her to step cautiously past the windows. Their house is in a kill zone. At 18 months, her baby already had learned counterinsurgency survival. He still wears a diaper.

Karim's family is among hundreds in Baghdad's Shiite Muslim-dominated Amil neighborhood who are under siege in their homes; in this case from two local snipers, one apparently stationed in a minaret of a nearby Sunni Muslim mosque.

Her experience shows that the U.S. troop buildup has yet to penetrate everywhere in Baghdad, as President Bush pressed Thursday for more time for the increase to show results.

"Leaving now will be dangerous for Iraq, the region and the United States," he said.

The U.S. military spokesman here on Wednesday and President Bush on Thursday described the war mainly as a battle against al Qaida. Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner cited "hundreds" of insurgents from the group al Qaida in Iraq who'd been captured or killed since June, when American-led forces launched offensives in provinces north and east of the capital.

But Karim and her neighbors wish U.S. or Iraqi forces would concentrate on the local snipers. Because of that failing, from her perspective, the American troops can't leave soon enough. There's vigorous debate on this point, however, and some of her neighbors say U.S. troops are the only force that's still preserving order.

more...

[pnwmom]

1. Oh. My. God.

As a mother, I'm sickened.

Thanks for the post, Babylonsister.

[uppityperson]

2. k&r for babies in diapers dodging bullets

[BlooInBloo]

3. Of course. The ones who don't are dead...

... Note also that these are the folks who will be wanting to kill us when they grow up. We are LITERALLY training terrorists - to kill US.

[babylonsister]

4. I can't blame them for how they feel; look what we've done. nt