Shoot first, ask questions later
What's this I read about an Italian journalist who was taken hostage in Iraq a while ago, and was just released, and as she is going to the airport to go back home her car is shot at by American troops and one of the occupants (an Italian secret service agent protecting the journalist) is killed? Allegedly they were approaching a checkpoint at a high rate of speed. Well, darn it, they're in Iraq, you don't go poking along on a dangerous road, you get where you're going as fast as you can!
Anyway, I thought the whole idea of a checkpoint is that it's the point where you check on people passing through to see if they're entitled to proceed. How can you check them at the checkpoint if you shoot them before they get to the checkpoint?
The excuse is that they're worried about suicide bombers. A suicide bomber will stop at the checkpoint without intending to proceed, and will blow himself up to destroy the checkpoint and kill as many Americans as possible at the checkpoint. So you have to stop everybody and check up on them before they get to the checkpoint. You shoot at them if they're going at a high rate of speed, you shoot at them if they're going very slowly because they're trying not to approach at a high rate of speed, and you shoot at them if they're going at normal speed because you know they're just trying not to appear conspicuous. Why not just stand at a safe distance and shoot everybody, and not have a checkpoint?
If you really don't want people approaching the checkpoint at a high rate of speed, why build a smooth straight road toward the checkpoint? Be sensible. To begin with, post a speed limit. Next you have to enforce the speed limit. Make the road viciously twisty, give it a washboard surface so their tires can't hold traction at high speed, and put heavy rubble on both sides of the road so if a vehicle goes off the road it can't move at all. Anybody who goes too fast will go off the road, with the possible exception of race drivers. Now you can shoot at any vehicle that goes off the road, as well as any vehicle that goes through the esses with a race driver at the wheel.
But if you say you're there to bring democracy to Iraq, and you find yourself shooting at Iraqis before you know who they are or why they're on the road, and even shooting at Italians because they might be Iraqis, then maybe, just maybe, you're in the wrong place at the wrong time doing the wrong thing in the wrong way for the wrong reasons. Yes, there's a job to be done, and somebody's got to do it. But you don't have the ability, and the people you're trying to help don't have the confidence in you, to do the job. There's such a thing as recusing yourself, and it's high time for the Americans in Iraq to do just that.
Anyway, I thought the whole idea of a checkpoint is that it's the point where you check on people passing through to see if they're entitled to proceed. How can you check them at the checkpoint if you shoot them before they get to the checkpoint?
The excuse is that they're worried about suicide bombers. A suicide bomber will stop at the checkpoint without intending to proceed, and will blow himself up to destroy the checkpoint and kill as many Americans as possible at the checkpoint. So you have to stop everybody and check up on them before they get to the checkpoint. You shoot at them if they're going at a high rate of speed, you shoot at them if they're going very slowly because they're trying not to approach at a high rate of speed, and you shoot at them if they're going at normal speed because you know they're just trying not to appear conspicuous. Why not just stand at a safe distance and shoot everybody, and not have a checkpoint?
If you really don't want people approaching the checkpoint at a high rate of speed, why build a smooth straight road toward the checkpoint? Be sensible. To begin with, post a speed limit. Next you have to enforce the speed limit. Make the road viciously twisty, give it a washboard surface so their tires can't hold traction at high speed, and put heavy rubble on both sides of the road so if a vehicle goes off the road it can't move at all. Anybody who goes too fast will go off the road, with the possible exception of race drivers. Now you can shoot at any vehicle that goes off the road, as well as any vehicle that goes through the esses with a race driver at the wheel.
But if you say you're there to bring democracy to Iraq, and you find yourself shooting at Iraqis before you know who they are or why they're on the road, and even shooting at Italians because they might be Iraqis, then maybe, just maybe, you're in the wrong place at the wrong time doing the wrong thing in the wrong way for the wrong reasons. Yes, there's a job to be done, and somebody's got to do it. But you don't have the ability, and the people you're trying to help don't have the confidence in you, to do the job. There's such a thing as recusing yourself, and it's high time for the Americans in Iraq to do just that.
posted by GrumbleGrouch at 2:07 PM
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