- KIFL, Iraq (Reuters) - A
single suicide bombing has put nervous U.S. soldiers on edge, helping to
trigger two deadly checkpoint shootings that severely undermine efforts
to win the trust of the Iraqi people.
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- U.S. and British forces have been jumpy at checkpoints
since a bomber killed four American soldiers on Saturday by blowing himself
up in a car at a roadblock near the city of Najaf.
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- Nervous U.S. Marines shot dead seven women and children
in a car that failed to stop at a checkpoint near Najaf on Monday. On Tuesday
they killed an unarmed driver who was speeding toward a roadblock near
Shatra in southern Iraq.
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- Asked if the checkpoint killings undermined attempts
to win over local people, British army spokesman Colonel Chris Vernon said:
"It does indeed."
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- Procedures have been tightened to protect the troops,
but the rules of engagement have not been changed. Troops still face the
same dilemma -- how to distinguish between combatants and civilians and
how to decide when to shoot in self-defense.
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- "A civilian is always a threat until proven innocent,"
Lieutenant Jason Davis said in the town of Kifl, north of Najaf.
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- "It makes it very difficult," said a U.S. corporal
whose father fought in the war in Vietnam. "It's just like my dad
said it was in Vietnam -- you don't know who to trust."
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- SHOOTING FIRST, ASKING QUESTIONS LATER?
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- Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told a briefing at U.S.
war headquarters in Qatar that troops were still following rules.
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- "We make every effort to warn, to try to cause a
halt to the potential danger before it escalates beyond a point to which
it can be controlled," Brooks said.
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- He said soldiers were now more vigilant because Iraqi
fighters were sometimes dressing in civilian clothes and hiding among civilians,
but the rules of engagement had not changed.
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- Despite this, the troops are in danger of appearing trigger-happy.
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- "The Americans have to look again at the rules of
engagement and just see what they're doing at these checkpoints...They
are shooting first and asking questions later," Paul Beaver, the former
publisher of Jane's Defense Weekly, told BBC television.
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- At checkpoints, troops partly block the road with wire
or vehicles, forcing cars to slow down. If they continue at speed, the
soldiers are supposed to fire a warning shot and give the driver time to
stop before any decision is taken to shoot.
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- "The challenge is picking out the enemy from someone
else who just doesn't want to be there and is trying to get out of the
way," said Major Brian Pearl of the 101st Airborne Division.
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- "Each soldier must do the math to determine whether
there is intent to harm him. If there is, he has to engage -- he has to."
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- Soldiers say they will do their best to avoid civilian
casualties but that their first priority is to stay alive.
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- Some said they would prefer cars to stop further away
from checkpoints and occupants to get out and raise their hands for checks.
Others wanted loudspeakers so that instructions can be blasted out in Arabic
to people approaching roadblocks.
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- EXPERIENCE IN ISRAEL
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- The dilemma in Iraq is similar to that faced by Israel
as it tackles a Palestinian uprising for an independent state which is
spearheaded by militants whose tactics include suicide bombings.
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- Shootings and deaths at checkpoints are frequent and
almost all Israeli inquiries have exonerated the soldiers involved from
blame, prompting criticism by human rights groups. Israel's rules of engagement
are similar to those cited by Brooks.
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- "The Americans are capable of dealing with the situation,"
said Israeli strategic analyst Ephraim Inbar.
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- "But what these troops have to do is tread a golden
path between being assertive, cautious and humane. Most of the people they
will deal with are civilians. They have to do it in such a way as to minimize
the hard feelings of the population."
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- That is a difficult task, as proved in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip, where checkpoints intended to stop suicide bombers reaching
Israel have fed Palestinian anger against occupation.
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- "Nothing will work better than the threat of suicide
bombers to alienate the U.S. and British forces from the local Iraqi population,"
said Israeli political analyst Yossi Alpher.
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- "They will have no alternative but to view everyone
above 14 years old, every vehicle, even every animal, such as donkeys,
as a potential suicide bomb.
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- (Additional reporting by Matthew Green in Iraq and Mark
Heinrich in Jerusalem).
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