Message to Iraqi Soldiers Working with US

A message for those Iraqi soldiers in small US combat outposts, "your gun emplacement positions might be rigged with explosives."

Just another "reality" of war. Imagine what would happen if an insurgent infiltrated the Iraqi troops, and one of these infiltrators was manning a 50-caliber gun emplacement when the combat outpost came under attack? The insurgent could turn the gun on the outpost itself, wiping out a lot of US solders.

BUT, if the gun emplacement was rigged with explosives, the Americans could take it out. It could also be argued that the emplacement could be over-run, thereby justifying its rigging with explosives.

This scenario supposedly occurred in Vietnam. With Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch's honest talk about a possible Tet Offensive, this scenario is probably being played out in Iraq today.

I don't blame the American Soldiers who are simply trying to survive, nor should the Iraqi soldiers. They should blame George W. Bush who is guilty of crimes against peace:

To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.

- Chief American prosecutor, Robert H. Jackson, Nuremberg.

As fifty US soldiers report in the Nation Magazine expose' entitled, The Other Iraq War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness, the US presence in Iraq is a major source of the conflict. They call on Congress to end the US occupation of Iraq. If this happens, the scenario of US troops feeling compelled to booby-trap their allies positions cannot happen.

Sources:

The Nation, July 9, 2007, Chris Hedges and Laila Al-Arian, The Other Iraq War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness.

Time, July 16, 2007,MARK KUKIS, Fears of a Tet Offensive in Iraq.

Art Credit: Michael Bernstein, "The Sunny Pessimist Takes Cover from the Imperceptible" and Hudson Franklin gallery, 508 West 26th Street, New York. West Chelsea.

Morale Booster in Iraq

AP reports that psychological operations techniques can work both ways. Research funded by the US Army, conducted at the University of California at Santa Barbara, show a significant increase in positive feelings in the presence of certain colors. Referring to colored sand bags, Col. William Buckley says,

We can't use these in many situations, but they work fine for check points and observation posts that are already well known to everyone, including the insurgents.

Army Pfc. Dick Pearl said,

I thought it was a joke. Seriously, you think its always shoot'm up around here, but actually there's a lot of down time, so guys are constantly coming up with pranks. Like, "fill up these colorful sand bags for our check point." I'm like, "yea sure. What date is it?

But it's not April first and this wasn't one of those pranks. Pearl laughed at what he thought was a joke, and his immediate superior quipped that the reverse psyops were already having an effect.

I'm not sure I'm a believer, but they've done the research, and I have to admit on the surface, I look at these things, roll my eyes, shake my head and a little smile comes to my mouth. The neighborhood kids get a real kick out of them. It does seem to lighten things up around here.

Others aren't so sure. Pfc. Alfonse Gonzalez is a skeptic. He has seen too much destruction of life, both friends and civilians, to accept the proven research.

You all laugh now, but wait until one of these check points is hit by a suicide bomb, and these damn bags are strewn around with blood and body parts. You'll never look at them the same way again.

Skepticism aside, the "rainbow bags" are generally accepted as a little point of brightness in an otherwise bleak situation for those who are either arriving in Baghdad for their first tour, or who have returned for their third. They don't undermine the operation, so the Army is taking a wait and see approach to their use.

Sources:

Credit: Michael Bernstein, "The Sunny Pessimist Takes Cover from the Imperceptible" and Hudson Franklin gallery, 508 West 26th Street, New York. West Chelsea.

Alternative Press, May 5, 2007 G. Day Mahn "Sandbag Spoof or Not?"
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