[list_indonesia] [ppiindia] Rules of engagement in Iraq New Feature
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
- Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 03:35:04 +0100
** Mailing-List Indonesia Nasional Milis PPI-India www.ppi-india.da.ru **
Rules of engagement in Iraq New Feature
The New York Times
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
The news of the Italian journalist whose car was sprayed by American gunfire on
the way to the Baghdad airport stunned the world. But perhaps the worst thing
about the wounding of the reporter, Giuliana Sgrena, and the killing of the
Italian intelligence agent who was shielding her, is that the attack wasn't
unique.
.
On Jan. 18, American soldiers in Mosul were ordered to stop an oncoming car.
After giving some warning shots, six soldiers sprayed the vehicle, firing at
least 50 rounds. When the car came to a stop, Chris Hondros, a photographer for
Getty Images, said he "could hear sobbing and crying coming from the car,
children's voices." A car door opened, and six children, one only 8 years old,
fell into the street, splattered with blood. The parents of four of the
children lay dead in the front seat, their bodies riddled with bullets. Back at
the base, the company commander told the soldiers that there would be an
investigation, but that they had followed the rules of engagement.
.
Both cases - and presumably hundreds more like them - are a dreadful reminder
of the human cost of America's war with Iraq and the ensuing occupation. Iraqi
civilians don't have to live only in fear of suicide bombers and masked
insurgents. They also must fear being mistaken for an insurgent by jumpy
American soldiers, who are told to shoot first and ask questions later.
.
American soldiers operate under rules of engagement that give them the
authority to open fire whenever they have reason to believe that they or others
in their unit may be at risk of suicide bombings or other insurgent attacks. No
one can fault an American GI at a checkpoint who fires on a car that refuses to
stop, because the insurgency has targeted such checkpoints. But with every
additional civilian who is killed by American fire, the human cost rises - both
in terms of the lives lost and the psychological damage suffered by the
American soldiers.
.
More broadly, these accidents further harm America's already shaky image
abroad. And they play into the hands of extremists, who use them to vilify
America and its soldiers.
.
It is the responsibility of those at the top of the chain of command - the ones
who write these rules of engagement - to make sure that such rules are as close
to mistake-proof as possible. That means studying hard the approach to each and
every checkpoint put up by the U.S. Army to make sure civilians understand that
they should slow down. It means studying tactics used by others, like the
British in Northern Ireland and the Israelis in the occupied territories, to
gather every shred of useful information out there about how to construct
checkpoints in a way that makes their presence obvious to anyone.
.
No one wants soldiers killed by suicide bombers who got too close. But neither
do we want these soldiers to have to live forever with the knowledge that they
killed a heroic intelligence officer, or that they mowed down the parents of
four Iraqi children in front of their very eyes, by mistake.
.
.
See more of the world that matters - click here for home delivery of the
International Herald Tribune.
.
< < Back to Start of Article
The news of the Italian journalist whose car was sprayed by American gunfire on
the way to the Baghdad airport stunned the world. But perhaps the worst thing
about the wounding of the reporter, Giuliana Sgrena, and the killing of the
Italian intelligence agent who was shielding her, is that the attack wasn't
unique.
.
On Jan. 18, American soldiers in Mosul were ordered to stop an oncoming car.
After giving some warning shots, six soldiers sprayed the vehicle, firing at
least 50 rounds. When the car came to a stop, Chris Hondros, a photographer for
Getty Images, said he "could hear sobbing and crying coming from the car,
children's voices." A car door opened, and six children, one only 8 years old,
fell into the street, splattered with blood. The parents of four of the
children lay dead in the front seat, their bodies riddled with bullets. Back at
the base, the company commander told the soldiers that there would be an
investigation, but that they had followed the rules of engagement.
.
Both cases - and presumably hundreds more like them - are a dreadful reminder
of the human cost of America's war with Iraq and the ensuing occupation. Iraqi
civilians don't have to live only in fear of suicide bombers and masked
insurgents. They also must fear being mistaken for an insurgent by jumpy
American soldiers, who are told to shoot first and ask questions later.
.
American soldiers operate under rules of engagement that give them the
authority to open fire whenever they have reason to believe that they or others
in their unit may be at risk of suicide bombings or other insurgent attacks. No
one can fault an American GI at a checkpoint who fires on a car that refuses to
stop, because the insurgency has targeted such checkpoints. But with every
additional civilian who is killed by American fire, the human cost rises - both
in terms of the lives lost and the psychological damage suffered by the
American soldiers.
.
More broadly, these accidents further harm America's already shaky image
abroad. And they play into the hands of extremists, who use them to vilify
America and its soldiers.
.
It is the responsibility of those at the top of the chain of command - the ones
who write these rules of engagement - to make sure that such rules are as close
to mistake-proof as possible. That means studying hard the approach to each and
every checkpoint put up by the U.S. Army to make sure civilians understand that
they should slow down. It means studying tactics used by others, like the
British in Northern Ireland and the Israelis in the occupied territories, to
gather every shred of useful information out there about how to construct
checkpoints in a way that makes their presence obvious to anyone.
.
No one wants soldiers killed by suicide bombers who got too close. But neither
do we want these soldiers to have to live forever with the knowledge that they
killed a heroic intelligence officer, or that they mowed down the parents of
four Iraqi children in front of their very eyes, by mistake.
.
.
See more of the world that matters - click here for home delivery of the
International Herald Tribune.
.
< < Back to Start of Article
The news of the Italian journalist whose car was sprayed by American gunfire on
the way to the Baghdad airport stunned the world. But perhaps the worst thing
about the wounding of the reporter, Giuliana Sgrena, and the killing of the
Italian intelligence agent who was shielding her, is that the attack wasn't
unique.
.
On Jan. 18, American soldiers in Mosul were ordered to stop an oncoming car.
After giving some warning shots, six soldiers sprayed the vehicle, firing at
least 50 rounds. When the car came to a stop, Chris Hondros, a photographer for
Getty Images, said he "could hear sobbing and crying coming from the car,
children's voices." A car door opened, and six children, one only 8 years old,
fell into the street, splattered with blood. The parents of four of the
children lay dead in the front seat, their bodies riddled with bullets. Back at
the base, the company commander told the soldiers that there would be an
investigation, but that they had followed the rules of engagement.
.
Both cases - and presumably hundreds more like them - are a dreadful reminder
of the human cost of America's war with Iraq and the ensuing occupation. Iraqi
civilians don't have to live only in fear of suicide bombers and masked
insurgents. They also must fear being mistaken for an insurgent by jumpy
American soldiers, who are told to shoot first and ask questions later.
.
American soldiers operate under rules of engagement that give them the
authority to open fire whenever they have reason to believe that they or others
in their unit may be at risk of suicide bombings or other insurgent attacks. No
one can fault an American GI at a checkpoint who fires on a car that refuses to
stop, because the insurgency has targeted such checkpoints. But with every
additional civilian who is killed by American fire, the human cost rises - both
in terms of the lives lost and the psychological damage suffered by the
American soldiers.
.
More broadly, these accidents further harm America's already shaky image
abroad. And they play into the hands of extremists, who use them to vilify
America and its soldiers.
.
It is the responsibility of those at the top of the chain of command - the ones
who write these rules of engagement - to make sure that such rules are as close
to mistake-proof as possible. That means studying hard the approach to each and
every checkpoint put up by the U.S. Army to make sure civilians understand that
they should slow down. It means studying tactics used by others, like the
British in Northern Ireland and the Israelis in the occupied territories, to
gather every shred of useful information out there about how to construct
checkpoints in a way that makes their presence obvious to anyone.
.
No one wants soldiers killed by suicide bombers who got too close. But neither
do we want these soldiers to have to live forever with the knowledge that they
killed a heroic intelligence officer, or that they mowed down the parents of
four Iraqi children in front of their very eyes, by mistake.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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