it looks like all of those earlier 'hey, ariel, maybe you shouldn't be destroying the houses of palestinians' protests made by our government earlier this year are probably going to stop. why? well, now we're doing the same thing in iraq:
At least 15 homes have been destroyed in Tikrit as part of what has been dubbed Operation Ivy Cyclone Two. Among them were four houses allegedly belonging to suspects in the Nov. 7 downing of a Black Hawk helicopter that killed six Americans. Those houses were leveled Sunday by tanks and Apache helicopters.Family members at one of the houses, in the village of al Haweda, said they were given five minutes to evacuate before soldiers opened fire.
"This is something Sharon would do," said farmer Jamel Shahab, referring to the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon. "What's happening in Iraq is just like Palestine."
once again, a fine strategery decision. 'ya know, the media keeps making this vi-et-nam connection to the war, and we've got to stop it. i know! let's turn iraq into palestine! that'll win everybody over.' yes, because obviously creating homeless people by destroying their houses is going to make them love the occupiers and give up their relatives. and doing things that draw parallels to the activities of the idf certainly won't win any support in the arab world. ('b-b-but we named one of our actions iron hammer! doesn't that get us anything?)
does this violate the geneva convention?
it seems to me (and yes, i'm just one little guy behind a keyboard) that if you want to win the population over and get them to support your war against the insurgents, this is not the way to do it. i wouldn't be inclined to trust somebody who accused my brother of being a part of the resistance and then blew up my house.
even if these guys were doing these activities, this is still the wrong way to get them. but, as joseph wilson learned, this administration has no qualms about going after family members to get at their targets.
Posted by kilgore at November 18, 2003 10:59 PM | TrackBack