Snipers in Iraq told to lay 'bait' and shoot anyone who touches it
A Pentagon group has come up with a new strategy to fight insurgents: have snipers lay out "bait" and then shoot anyone who touches it. The types of bait recommended are detonation cords, plastic explosives and ammunition.
The program was classified, but has been uncovered in documents dealing with murder charges against three snipers for planting evidence on victims.
"Baiting is putting an object out there that we know they will use, with the intention of destroying the enemy," Capt. Matthew P. Didier, the leader of an elite sniper scout platoon attached to the 1st Battalion of the 501st Infantry Regiment, said in a sworn statement. "Basically, we would put an item out there and watch it. If someone found the item, picked it up and attempted to leave with the item, we would engage the individual as I saw this as a sign they would use the item against U.S. Forces."
I am a little confused as to when scavenging became punishable by death, but it seems the U.S. Military finds luring men into picking up deserted objects a way to improve Iraqi security. The obvious issue is the risk to civilians with such an indiscriminate program.
The president of the National Institute of Military Justice commented:
"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.
The three soldiers on trial are accused of going 'too far' with the program, and murdering civilians without cause - then planting the 'bait.' Of course, killing an innocent man is killing an innocent man, and the soldiers have expressed the need to 'get even' with the Iraqis for taking the lives of their fellow soldiers. Once the army allows snipers to bait and murder, it is a short moral step to just shoot without them actually picking up the deserted goods. One of the soldier's attorney commented:
James D. Culp, a civilian attorney for one of the snipers, Sgt. Evan Vela, said the soldiers became "battle-fatigued pawns in a newfangled concept of 'baiting' warfare that, like an onion, perhaps looked good on the surface, but started stinking to high hell the minute the layers were pulled back and scrutinized."
One of the murdered civilians was cutting his grass when he was shot, then the soldiers allegedly placed a spool of wire in his pocket to make the murder acceptable.
I have just as much issue with the murder of a civilian while cutting grass as I have with the murder of a civilian for holding a spool of wire. The distinction created by the military is hardly just, calling the first man a civilian and the second an insurgent.
At a time when tensions are peaked over the irresponsibility of Blackwater to distinguish between Iraqi civilians and Iraqi insurgents, such a program will only serve to aggravate the Iraqi-American relationship. Is Iraq any safer for the murder of a man who picks up a deserted ammunition pack or roll of spool? The focus should be on the men who are making bombs, not the men who are wandering the streets grabbing deserted items. And while the argument from the military is that they could be a potential force against the U.S., when did one's ability to commit a crime qualify him for death?
Do you feel this is a productive program that increases security in Iraq?
