[PEN-L:36266] Suicide bombers

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Suicide Bombing Kills U.S. Troops

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Peter Baker
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, March 29, 2003; 5:30 AM

KUWAIT CITY, March 29 (Saturday) -- A suicide bomber driving a taxi filled
with explosives killed five U.S. soldiers today at a highway checkpoint in
central Iraq, military spokesmen said, the first such attack on American
troops in war in which Iraqi forces have been accused of dressing as
civilians and employing so-called human shields.

The incident occurred near the city of Najaf, about 80 miles south of
Baghdad, according to spokesmen quoted by news services. Capt. Andrew
Wallace told the Associated Press that members of the 1st Brigade of the
U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division were manning a checkpoint north of the
city when a taxi stopped nearby and its driver waved for help. When five
U.S. soldiers approached the car, it exploded, Wallace said.

full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46001-2003Mar29.html

====

Last night on the Lehrer News Hour, a PBS show that can be described as
government propaganda geared to the Volvo owner, there was an eye-opening
report that originated with the BBC. A reporter, who was covering
demonstrations in Cairo and Amman, said that he could not find a *single*
Arab who supported the USA. About as close as one could find to this was a
rotund Egyptian government official who said that the logic of the war
would radicalize the region and destabilize pro-US governments.

Apparently thousands of volunteers are streaming into Iraq, many of whom
will be willing to sacrifice their lives to destroy the invader. No amount
of Cruise missiles will be able to stop this.

The other thing to think about is the mounting toll on US troops morale as
they are forced to slog it out in the open desert with one meal a day, as
has been reported. This is in sharp contrast to Vietnam where at least a
grunt could go back to Saigon for some rest and recreation. Since there are
no cities in Iraq that is hospitable to the invader, they will have to go
for weeks on end with no bed to sleep in, no baths, no decent food while
people are shooting at them all the time and while millions are demanding
in the world's streets that they be withdrawn immediately.

As has been noted, the NY Times has been a source of top-flight reporting.
Steven Lee Myers can be counted on for an accurate description of what is
happening on the ground. Considering this, it is obvious that the fighting
mood of the troops is iffy at best:

The brigade's chief chaplain, Maj. Mark B. Nordstrom, said he spent more
than six hours with the troop's soldiers on Thursday after they returned
from Kifl. Sergeant Redmond was among them.

Major Nordstrom belongs to a branch of the Mennonites with a pacifist
theology. He has given this some thought. He cites St. Augustine's theory
of just war: "War is love's response to a neighbor threatened by force."

"We're in the thousands now that were killed in the last few days," he said
today. "Nothing prepares you to kill another human being. Nothing prepares
you to use a machine gun to cut someone in two.

"They tell stories amongst themselves," he added of the soldiers. "When I
come up, they tell different stories. It bothers them to take life,
especially that close. They want to talk to me so that they know that I
know they are not awful human beings."

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/29/international/worldspecial/29INFA.html













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