"we have teeth and claws and we will use them"

[pnorman]

>
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An Apache attack helicopter was shot down in June in the western desert but the two crewmembers escaped injury.

Following the crash, Lt. Col. Steven Russell, commander of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, also said U.S. forces had reimposed the 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew on Tikrit, which had been lifted at the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan last month.

"This is to remind the town that we have teeth and claws and we will use them," Russell said after his troops blasted two abandoned houses and a warehouse with machine gun and heavy weapons fire.

U.S. troops late Friday also fired mortars and jets dropped at least three 500-pound bombs around the crash site, rattling windows over a wide area. Other U.S. jets streaked over Tikrit after sundown. At least three mortars were also fired onto the U.S. compound but caused no damage.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20031108_302.html

[LWolf]

1. I read this in my local paper.

It sickens me.

My version didn't say we bombed a crash site or abandoned buildings. It said,

TIKRIT, Iraq - American troops backed by Bradley fighting vehicles swept through Iraqi neighborhoods before dawn today, blasting houses suspected of being insurgent hideouts with machine guns and heavy weapons fire in retaliation for the downing of an Army helicopter that killed six soldiers.

The Black Hawk crashed Friday, apparently shot down by insurgents, capping the bloodiest seven days in Iraq for Americans since the fall of Baghdad.

"This is to remind the town that we have teeth and claws and we will use them," Lt. Col. Steven Russell, commander of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, said of today's raids.

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/11/08/Worldandnation/Forces_retaliate_afte.shtml

Neighborhoods. Houses. That were "suspected." A free pass to throw a violent temper tantrum and call it bringing peace, democracy, freedom....whatever.

:puke:

If you didn't live here, what would you think of the U.S. at this point?

[dfong63]

2. hearts and minds, here we come

[Rowdyboy]

3. And they shall greet us by throwing flowers into the street,

singing hymns to our glory, and praising our name.

Flowers and hymns and praising; teeth and claws; What a clusterf**k

[leftchick]

4. Here is the Iraqi reaction to all the sabre rattling....

sounds like it did not impress them...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=7&u=/ap/20031108/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_shock_and_awe_2

Military in Iraq Deepens US Resentment

<snip>Yet efforts to curb the resistance breed even more hatred for coalition forces.

American soldiers raid homes in Tikrit and outlaying villages almost daily in search of insurgents and weapons. The raids stoke the increasing resentment among Tikritis, who view them as a breach of centuries-old customs about the sanctity of someone's home.

Cultural offense and a sense of humiliation are often cited by Iraqis when asked why they despise the Americans.

<snip>"We Iraqis know the ethics of war and we know that knights don't do what the Americans are doing here," said the retired officer. "What were they shooting at anyway? I think they just wanted to terrorize us."