Can the US DOD Get Any More Foul?

The Washington Post brought it to our attention yesterday, and this morning’s New York Times says, “Under a program developed by a Defense Department warfare unit, Army snipers have begun using a new method to kill Iraqis suspected of being insurgents, using fake weapons and bomb-making material as bait and then killing anyone who picks them up, according to testimony presented in a military court.” And you know who is picking up these “fake weapons and bomb-making materials”? Curious children. The idea that the baits would tempt only insurgents is insane. Innocent children, women, mothers are all picking up these baits and since the Pentagon and DOD has concluded that only insurgents would pick up the baits, therefore anyone picking up the baits is an insurgent and it’s legal to shoot them. Mind you, not everyone in the Army is shooting people who pick up bomb-making material from the ground. Deadeye snipers are sitting in wait for the sign that an insurgent has wandered into their sights. And that sign is when a person picks up a bait. “In sworn statements, soldiers testifying for the defense have said the sniper team was employing a ‘baiting program’ developed at the Pentagon by the Asymmetrical Warfare Group, which met with Ranger sniper teams in Iraq in January and gave equipment to them... Army officers involved in evidentiary hearings in Baghdad in July did not dispute the existence or use of a baiting program.” A court-martial is now under way involving one soldier accused of murdering three Iraqis. But the court-martial is not centered on the immorality of using baits to lure insurgents. Because killing under those circumstances is legal and has been authorized. The court martial focuses on the prosecutor’s allegations that the soldier planted bomb-making wire on the dead victims. I am so glad to find out the niceties of what is legal and not legal with regard to Army snipers and their authorizations. Army trained snipers can legally strew baits around for any curious Iraqi to pick up and then be shot. But after the snipers shoot the curious Iraqis, it is illegal for snipers to plant evidence on their bodies. Bad enough that Blackwater, USA thugs shot an innocent Iraqi woman and baby because they didn’t move fast enough when a convoy of diplomats came down the road. But now we have the US army luring Iraqis to pick up baits so that they can be called insurgents and then legally shot. The Bush Administration’s Progress in Iraq 1) The US decided to attack Iraq for no reason because the neocons wanted Iraq’s oil. 2) The American people weren’t crazy about another war. 3) The Bush administration changed its mission from aggression and seizing oil wells to claiming that Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction. That claim resonated with the American people. 4) The Iraqis didn’t have WMD but the Bush administration attacked Iraq anyway because it wanted Iraq’s oil. 5) The Department of Defense had no understanding of the Iraqi people or its culture and used a tiny force of US soldiers. The DOD said the Iraqis wanted the US to attack them and would welcome us as liberators. 6) The attack failed. The Bush administration was shocked the Iraqis didn’t want the US to attack them. 7) The DOD was shocked the Iraqi people fought back and had empowered militias. 8) The Bush administration changed its mission from seizing Iraq’s oil, to ousting Saddam Hussein to claiming the US had wanted to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq. 9) No one believed the freedom and democracy boloney because US soldiers were killing all Iraqis who disagreed with the Bush administration. 10) Since the US has no military, the State Department hired mercenaries to fight its war in Iraq. The mercenaries, most notably Blackwater, USA, have disgraced themselves and the US by unsupervised marauding and killing in Iraq. 11) Having brought terrorism and a civil war to Iraq (all because the Bush administration wanted Iraq’s oil), the Bush administration trotted out Generals and Republican warmongers to swear that the US must remain in Iraq forever because insurgents have taken over Iraq. 12) No one believes the Generals or warmongers because the real reason the US is in Iraq is to seize Iraq’s oil, which it has not done as yet. But given time, the US will be victorious. That is the US will get Iraq’s oil. 13) Now Iraq wants the mercenaries out of Iraq because they are committing murders. But the US can’t fight its war (that is, seize Iraq’s oil) without mercenaries. 14) And the latest dishonorable plan to come out of the Department of Defense, Pentagon and Army is that snipers have been trained to kill Iraqis when they pick up baits because the DOD claims that anyone picking up baits is an insurgent. Can the Bush administration, its DOD, Pentagon and jack-shit Generals get any lower, any more base, any more unethical, any more ugly, inhuman, and corrupt? Of course it can. It’s the Bush administration.