Farm Aid

Lt. Col. (ret.) Karen Kwiatkowski on farm policy in Iraq:

Orchard bulldozing is part of “a new policy of collective punishment of farmers who do not give information about guerrillas attacking U.S. troops.” Is it really a U.S. policy? I might credit this designation as “U.S. policy” to the reporting style of the Independent, but other punishments doled out by U.S. troops in Iraq are on theme and indicate a policy of sorts. These include humiliation of Iraqis and crushing antique cars. Not long ago, I saw on television American soldiers repeatedly running a tank over a Baghdad resident’s vehicle, crushing it flat. The Iraqi had taken wood from somewhere in the city, to burn, and now that the United States was cracking down on looting, the punishment was swift and sincere. The car was the Iraqi’s taxicab, and the “punishment” represented the total destruction of the only legitimate source of income for him and his extended family. Our soldiers said that punishment like this would send a message to others.