One stressed out reservist away from a masacre

[Woodstock]

Among the less publicized incentives propelling Iraq overseer Paul Bremer's urgent dash to Washington last week was the concern in various quarters of the administration that the U.S. expeditionary force in Iraq was in a dangerously unstable state. "We are one stressed-out reservist away from a massacre," remarked one senior official closely involved in the search for an exit strategy. He was expressing the fear that a soldier, possibly a reservist, pressed beyond endurance by the rigors and uncertainties of his or her condition in a hostile land far from home, might open up with a machine gun on an Iraqi crowd, with obviously disastrous consequences for the future of the occupation.

In case anyone considers this contingency unthinkably remote, examples already abound of overstressed U.S. soldiers behaving in a lethally trigger-happy fashion. As U.S. soldiers get more and more stressed, their tempers fray and you see more altercations on the streets, more browbeating of ordinary Iraqis by soldiers and, as a result, a general deterioration in the already tense relationship that helps convince Iraqis that the U.S. is nothing but an ugly, arrogant occupying army.

In traveling around Iraq, I always stay well away from American convoys, for reasons well known to all Iraqi drivers and best illustrated by an incident (by no means unique) outside Fallouja last month. Gunners in an armored column responded to a roadside bomb blast by opening up, apparently indiscriminately, with heavy automatic weapons on traffic moving in the opposite direction on the other side of the highway median. Six civilians died, including four in a single minivan, some of whom were decapitated. An 82nd Airborne spokesman was later quoted as insisting that "the use of force was justified." ...

"I really don't care for the Iraqi people, I don't care about helping them get back on their feet," {an officer} wrote in his letter. "However, I don't condone stealing from them, hurting them unnecessarily or threatening them with violence if it is not needed. We will never win hearts and minds here, but what these guys are doing is wrong. I am positive that this isn't happening in my company, and that's all I can really affect."...

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-cockburn19nov19,1,6982826.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

[mmm]

1. Pretty convincing article

it has the sound of truth about it.
I, too, blame Bush.

[Woodstock]

2. The Bush Admin neocons truly don't know

what they are doing. Did you hear about the latest leak from the Pentagon? Desperation. Soldiers are losing their lives, or losing arms and legs, and for nothing. Their benefits and pay are being cut, and their families facing hardship at home. Reservists weren't meant for this kind of duty - and really, nobody can succeed when the cards are stacked against them. What a horrible thing it must be to serve in Iraq under these circumstances. I spoke to a reservist officer the other day, he says he won't vote for Bush, that Bush "doesn't care about the military." He cited the cuts, too. He said he likes Wesley Clark, BTW, but he's ready to vote for any Democrat.