DO YOU REALLY WONDER WHY THEY HATE US…?
September 24th, 2007
Two years ago snipers were hired to thin the deer herds in Cuyaghoga County. The snipers would place bait — piles of corn — to attract the deer and then kill the animals cleanly. I know that some people became really upset about the program, but it really was the most humane way to deal with an overpopulation that we created.
But this morning I read in the Washington Post about a program sanctioned by my government to do the same with humans; with Iraqi citizens, without certain knowledge of guilt.
A Pentagon group has encouraged some U.S. military snipers in Iraq to target suspected insurgents by scattering pieces of “bait,” such as detonation cords, plastic explosives and ammunition, and then killing Iraqis who pick up the items, according to military court documents.
The classified program was described in investigative documents related to recently filed murder charges against three snipers who are accused of planting evidence on Iraqis they killed.
“Baiting is putting an object out there that we know they will use, with the intention of destroying the enemy,” Capt. Matthew P. Didier, the leader of an elite sniper scout platoon attached to the 1st Battalion of the 501st Infantry Regiment, said in a sworn statement. “Basically, we would put an item out there and watch it. If someone found the item, picked it up and attempted to leave with the item, we would engage the individual as I saw this as a sign they would use the item against U.S. Forces.”
Just suppose you’re a starving Iraqi father with starving children. You’re no criminal or insurgent but you can’t stand the cries of your children at night. You see ammunition in a back alley and realize that there is a guy in your neighborhood who might give you enough money in exchange for the ammunition to feed your family for a few weeks.
You don’t like the idea, but the kids are hungry. So you look around. You slowly walk up to the ammunition. You look around again. No one is watching. You bend over to pick up the ammunition. And a 50-caliber bullet enters your forehead and blows out the back of your skull, scattering your brains down the alley.
And this is the way we think we can win the admiration of the Iraqi people?
Oh my, Jeff. This kind of activitiy might look smart in a Rambo film (I’ve never seen one) or a television program but in real life it is just barbaric. Have we come to this?
Shalom Poet,
Indeed, we have. And the crimes are all done in our name.
We all must choose what we will do to stop the barbarism.
B’shalom
Jeff