Posted on 11/12/2003 8:24:58 AM PST by 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.
What bothers me is that we try our own soldiers for war crimes. What bothers me is that we are blowing huge sums of money on this. What bothers me most of all is that we are going to be there a long, long time, and that ultimately we will lose.
The folks who run this country don't just want to win --they want to win using techniques that appeal to their colleagues, who work in suits and air-conditioned offices. These men never smell the smoke, never feel the grit and heat, but tend to care a lot about appearances.
The people in charge of this war never use four-letter words, but would send your well-intentioned son off to be burned to death and think nothing of it.
How can you combat cultural irrationality? They praise the guys blowing up US troops and say they want to join them, while simultaneously believing the US is planting the bombs??? This insanity is widespread in the ME...look at all the a-holes who were cheering the destruction of WTC while while believing it is all a Jewish plot.
How do you pacify violent, irrational wackos?
Sorry to break it to all of you here, but the war in Iraq is lost.
Flame me all you want. I could care less.
America does not have the stomach for war or for what NEEDS to be done here.
Bombing these savages with MREs wont win them over. Nothing Will!!!
The only way to win this war is to be relentless until these everyone of these savages are on their knees begging us for mercy.
Either leave with our tail between our legs or Carpet Bomb these savages into the friggin Stone Age until they and the rest of the world is on their knees begging us for mercy.
Respect with these people will come from fear.
That was the same thing I thought about the Leftist British news agency. Funny thing is that this "reporter"/propogandist was very close to saying the truth at the beginning.
If Washington doubts there is Iraqi public support for guerrillas killing its troops, it should consider the teenagers(News Media) who happily (forced viewers to) watched (ad-nausem) the American blood spilled Wednesday.
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