Iraqi Teenagers Watch as Americans Bleed

Reuters ^ | 11/12/03 | Michael Georgy

[TexKat]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - If Washington doubts there is Iraqi public support for guerrillas killing its troops, it should consider the teenagers who happily watched American blood spill Wednesday.

After a roadside bomb ripped through a military vehicle and wounded two soldiers, Iraqi boys rushed out of their homes to survey the damage.

"This is good. If they ask me, I will join the resistance. The Americans have to die," said Ali Qais, 15. "They are just here to steal our oil."

The U.S. administration has long dismissed the guerrillas as isolated "terrorists" who are Saddam Hussein loyalists or foreign Islamic militants.

But the scene in the Sarafiya district of Baghdad suggests they are winning the sympathy of Iraqis, whose joy at Saddam's fall has been overshadowed by anti-American rage.

Teenage boys were irritated to hear that two American soldiers were just wounded, not killed.

"I saw them pushing their hands onto one of the Americans' chest. They must have died. One soldier's friend was crying," said Abdullah Oman, 18.

His fury has been fueled by what he says is an American desire to humiliate all Iraqis.

He even believes that U.S. troops plant the bombs themselves, risking American lives to terrify and kill Iraqis.

"They are watching us die and laughing. They humiliate us. They handcuffed me and arrested me in front of my parents late one night because I stood on my house porch after curfew," he said.

Guerrillas have killed 155 American soldiers since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1.

In the months after the war, Iraqis voiced frustration with the American failure to crack down on looters and restore basic services.

Now talk has turned increasingly violent, especially among teenagers. They have watched American soldiers arrest their fathers and body-search their mothers during intrusive raids.

Iraqis are angrier and guerrillas are carrying out more spectacular attacks such as suicide bombings and mortar strikes on the main U.S. compound in Saddam's former palace.

Shortly after Wednesday's bombing teenagers in Sarafiya picked up leaflets from a group calling itself the Army of Mohammad.

"Patience, patience Baghdad. The occupation army will be destroyed," the leaflets said.

Residents of the working-class area watched as a U.S. soldier poured water and sand over the pools of blood from his comrades.

"I want to join these Iraqi fighters. I want to hit the Americans, the infidels," said Ali Ahmed, 10.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

I'm beginning to think the entire Arab world is one gigantic cesspool of hate.

[steve8714]

Oh, no...Reuters is a distinguished unbiased press entity.>off

[taxed2death]

The fact that it did happen would seem like enough reason to report it. That is, unless you only want to hear one side of the story. It is important to hear both sides of each story.

[HamiltonJay]

I agree the US has done horrible in the PR department on this thing.. .why after what 9 months are just a few tapes dribbling out that show the brutality that went on over there for 30 years.... no excuse...

Get those mass graves on the TV, get the brutality of this regime out there on TV and the internet if the networks incist on ignoring it etc.

[Terry Mross]

If you kill a man you better kill his children, too. If you don't, someday they will want revenge. That's why I don't see an end to this war, ever.

[dirtboy]

The fact that it did happen would seem like enough reason to report it. That is, unless you only want to hear one side of the story. It is important to hear both sides of each story.

I would have no problem with Reuters REPORTING this story. However, I do not consider it reporting to start out the story with an editorial comment, especially one that is based on a single anecdote. This:

After a roadside bomb ripped through a military vehicle and wounded two soldiers, Iraqi boys rushed out of their homes to survey the damage. "This is good. If they ask me, I will join the resistance. The Americans have to die," said Ali Qais, 15. "They are just here to steal our oil."

Quite frankly, does not equal this:

If Washington doubts there is Iraqi public support for guerrillas killing its troops, it should consider the teenagers who happily watched American blood spill Wednesday.

Just how extensive is the public support for the guerillas? After all, 70 percent of Iraqis said they were in favor of the occupation.

[TLI]

Yep, also.... "They are just here to steal our oil."

This will not stop, we have 2 choices, leave or carpet bombing.

[JmyBryan]

These kids do nothing but watch Al-Jazeera et al all day. What other conclusions would they make, especially when they see US and European news bureaus reporting that this war is all for Halliburton profit?

[Protagoras]

Looks to Me like a 10,15 & 18 year old needs to be on the hit list for the next raids and this time DON'T let them go!!!!!!!!!!!1 Stupid raghead punks go to the land of 72 virgins.

C'mon,,don't be a quitter. Let's kill them all, all of them. Maybe we can make a camp or something to make it go more smoothly.

[taxed2death]

....simply put, this is just two sides of a story from different perspectives.

[F.J. Mitchell]

We've heard from the Iraqi adolescents now-time to give up.

[spodefly]

Reuters, in their lust to present an negative an image as possible about the American efforts in Iraq, will overlook the fact that Iraqi (i.e. Muslim) youth as young as 10 are raised in an environment of bloodlust, and embrace murder as a core component of their "culture".

But to Reuters, these poisoned youths are just "freedom fighters" ...

[Delbert]

Its not the Arab world , Its the Islamic World that is a cesspool of hate.

[McGavin999]

One of the things that needs to be done, in the Sunni triangle and across Iraq, is that documentaries of Saddams rule should be shown to every single citizen. The documentation of the torture chambers, the testimoney of the Iraqis who were tortured, the scenes of the mass graves, the shredders, etc. should be required viewing by these people.

Let them really see what they were and are backing. This should have been one of the first things we did upon entering Iraq. We have failed miserably at getting the word out. We have made giant strides at returning that country to normal, but it seems that a good portion of the population doesn't even know how bad off they were.

[ZULU]

According to the Prophet Mohammad, all Muslims are required to come to the aid of any other Muslim who is attacked by an unbeliever. I believe we are witnessing this action now in Iraq.

Further, the Quran enjoins Muslims to offer non-Muslims three choices: conversion, acceptance of submissive second class status by paying a special tax along with a number of other onerous and humiliating burdens, or finally, death.

Some contemporary Muslims clerics also believe in and defeand slavery as a protected institution.

I think both the Democrats and Republicans are failing to correctly assess the nature and the magnitude of the serious menace threatening civilization.

The current claims by the Wahhabist regime in Saudi Arabia to be supportive of the fight against terrorists ring false. There is a power struggle in the Gulf States between those who believe in gradual infiltration of the west and its incremental conversion to Wahhabism, and those like the terrorists who believe in an immediate and massive Jihad against us. What is going on in Arabia is merely an argument on how best to bury us.

If the fanatics win we can expect an immediate oil embargo and more violent attacks against us. If the House of Saud (which is not supported by the mass of the radical populace there or their insane clerics) wins, we can expect a continual infiltration by Islamic immigrants, more madrases preachnig hate int he west, and more anti-western Islamic clerics bankrolled by Saudi dollars.

Personally, I hope they destroy each other.

[William Tell]

From the article: "This is good. If they ask me, I will join the resistance. The Americans have to die," said Ali Qais, 15.

The solution is really very simple. Hand this young man an AK-47 and a thousand rounds of ammunition. Tell him he has ten seconds to make his final decision and to take cover. Then hunt him down and kill him.

I believe in freedom of speech, the right to keep and bear arms, and full accountability for one's actions.

[desertcry]

I have nothing against most of the freedom loving Iraqis now, but I have lots of issues with the liberal media, who want the saddamites to win this war. The liberals hate GWB so much, that they are willing to blow themselves up to destroy W. Thus liberals = terrorists.

[americanSoul]

Is it just me or does anyone else think that we should have made the Sunni Triangle a parking lot?

A glass one.

[TexKat]

ZULU, my thoughts and response mirrors yours.

[Steve_Seattle]

"They are just hear to steal our oil."

Liberal rhetoric coming from the mouths of babes, justifying the killing of Americans. Way to go, liberals.