You're right as to intent, additionally they hope to forestall retaliation as too costly in civilian lives. However, gunman do, literally, hide behind and among women and children.
They are not 'hiding' behind, they are 'using' the women and children.
You're right as to intent, additionally they hope to forestall retaliation as too costly in civilian lives. However, gunman do, literally, hide behind and among women and children.
The arabs in Iraq are ... The following is from a freerepublic.com post ... The Real Story Behind the April 9th Insurgency in Iraq (must-read by a US soldier who was there)
"It was unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. We were in the middle of Baghdad on a main highway being attacked; there were buildings all around us, and people in the buildings firing weapons at us. I looked off to the left at a frontage road and I saw nine cars in rows of three. There was a line of women in front of all the cars, and some of them had children with them. I thought they were just watching us get attacked, and then men started popping up behind them firing at us - they were using the women as shields!! It took me a second to realize that. They were standing on the hoods of the cars behind the women and children; it shocked the hell out of me. Then we started getting hit with small arms fire, which sounded like golf balls hitting metal. I started firing back at them but I couldn’t get passed the women; they were all I could hit, and they started falling down. The men turned around and ran back behind the cars to fire."