U.S. Aims To Lure Insurgents With 'Bait'

Washington Post

A Pentagon group has encouraged some U.S. military snipers in Iraq to target suspected insurgents by scattering pieces of "bait," such as detonation cords, plastic explosives and ammunition, and then killing Iraqis who pick up the items, according to military court documents. The classified program was described in investigative documents related to recently filed murder charges against three snipers who are accused of planting evidence on Iraqis they killed.

This is stupid on so many levels, it's unbelievable. How, exactly, do you guarantee that the person picking up the "bait" is truly an insurgent? You can't. And that's the problem. Humans are an inquisitive bunch, and sometimes things that stand out catch our attention. We want a closer look. And I am not alone in this thought:

Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, said such a baiting program should be examined "quite meticulously" because it raises troubling possibilities, such as what happens when civilians pick up the items.

"In a country that is awash in armaments and magazines and implements of war, if every time somebody picked up something that was potentially useful as a weapon, you might as well ask every Iraqi to walk around with a target on his back," Fidell said.

But, I guess in the world of this Pentagon group, all Iraqis must be insurgents. No doubt they see inquisitive humans as insurgents.

And obviously some snipers realized they killed innocent people, or people that obviously could not easily be identified as insurgents. So, they tried to cover their asses.

Jesus H. Christ, what an all around bad idea. How the hell do we win hearts and souls if we are killing indiscriminately in this manner. Well, obviously we don't.

Seriously, this is fucked up. If, that is, it's actually a program in place:

"We don't discuss specific methods targeting enemy combatants," said Paul Boyce, an Army spokesman. "The accused are charged with murder and wrongfully placing weapons on the remains of Iraqi nationals. There are no classified programs that authorize the murder of local nationals and the use of 'drop weapons' to make killings appear legally justified." [highlighting mine]