US soldiers wounded as Iraqi troops open fire from Red Crescent ambulance

Yahoo ^ | 03/31/03 | AFP

[Publius6961]

What really irritates me about these reports is that we are never told what happened to that forfeited ambulance!

[ought-six]

"First, to catch US soldiers off-guard, obviously yes, but also to provoke US soldiers to have doubts about the innocence of by-standers strong enough that US soldiers attack innocent vehicles, thereby providing legitimate anti-American propoganda."

The Arabs don't need any excuse for their anti-American propoganda: They'll still hate us, no matter what we do. We could bring forth the second coming of Mohammed and they'd still hate our guts.

[DCPatriot]

Well, everybody loves an "underdog" in a fight.

What SHOULD be done?

Capture the people with their weapons in the ambulance, and charge them with war crimes...or simply blow the ambulance to hell as soon as the first shot is fired from it.

[Eva]

I suspect that weapons of mass destructin may be hidden in Syria or floating on those ships that are said to be sitting in the Mediterranean.

My guess is that Saddam's best hope for winning this war was to hold out long enough to make the US look like it was terrorizing the Iraqi people and demonstrate that he had no WMD or he would have used them; then plead for the UN to end the war.

[The PeteMan]

These are very sick and cruel people. They need to be exterminated along with Peter Arnett

[Howlin]

I believe you may be on to something; he's counting on the weasels to make us stop.

[FreeTheHostages]

your position is inconsistent with law

all is not fair in love and war

there are people who get a reputation for being brutal thugs because they think that way -- including the Iraqis

[concerned about politics]

Capture the people with their weapons in the ambulance, and charge them with war crimes...or simply blow the ambulance to hell as soon as the first shot is fired from it.

No problem. My vote goes to blowing the ambulance to hell. That was an easy one, aye?

[ought-six]

"PS...Debka News...Euphrates-Tigris floodgates opened to stop U.S. from getting into Bagdad..."

Damn. Watch for the Iraqis to put a bunch of power lines into the swamps and try to electrocute our troops if they are standing in water. They did this against the Iranians back in the 1980s. What we need to do now is to knock out their electrical grids and power plants. We need to do that NOW!

[Robe]

I don't know why we're allowing ANY Civilian traffic at all. Drop leaflets saying ANY
MOVING VEHICLE WILL BE TARGETED. We can’t allow our guys to be needlessly
sacrificed like this from car bombs and shot from ambulances. It would also allow us to
vaporize any reinforcements coming form Syria or going to Basra

[Maeve]

I suspect all the WMD are packed away in the Red Crescent store houses.

Spot on.

[concerned about politics]

Actions like these prove they're losing. It's desperation we're seeing.

[Howlin]

Didn't they hide a lot of stuff in those "aid" storehouses last time, complete with the crescent on top of the building?

[Illbay]

Notice they get to try each of these tactics exactly ONCE.

Just saw a bit on FNC where the Coalition countermeasure against possible homicide bombings, is to fly around in choppers looking for vehicles driving around where they really ought not to be, then hovering over them, ordering the passengers OUT, away from the vehicle and to lie down at the side of the road with arms outstretched.

The soldiers then rappel down from the chopper, and do a thorough search of the suspects.

If they try to run, or disobey the order, they are scragged.

[lowbridge]

It says nothing about what happened to the Iraqi soldiers in the ambulance. Got away or got shot?

[Redcloak]

Treat Red Crescent anything as an enemy military asset; problem solved.

[martianagent]

I don't know why we're allowing ANY Civilian traffic at all. Drop leaflets saying ANY MOVING VEHICLE WILL BE TARGETED.

I'd go further than that: the leaflet should say "Don't drive or you'll die, and when you walk, walk naked..."

[Maeve]

I am sure that I remember the Saddam's sanddogs doing that in Basra in Gulf War I.

[neutrino]

It is not quite time for me to post my particular solution to the problem of is-slime. But they are bringing closer the time when it will be appropriate to do so.

[Chewbacca]

How do you update the signature? I have been trying to figure out how people are doing that.