Anti-Terrorist Raids

Any given day in Iraq includes a distressingly long list of casualties, but what about the stories behind those incidents? Here’s one from today which I thought warranted some expounding on:

Under the headline Terrorist hideout destroyed, a military press release touts the raid of a suspected “terrorist hideout”, the killing of a “terrorist” and the capture of 15 men.

How do we know it’s a terrorist hideout? Surveillance determined that the building contained “stockpiled food”, 12 bedrolls, and perhaps most damning of all, “men’s clothing”. How do we know the slain man was a terrorist? Well he was “near the target building” and made an unspecified sudden movement before being killed. Oh, and those 15 men who were captured? Well 3 of them were actually “wanted” for some crime or another. That would imply the other 12 were “unwanted”, wouldn’t it?

Here’s something conspicuously absent: weapons. Nowhere in the report is it alleged that this vitally important terrorist hideout, the destruction of which would, according to the story, “further degrade al-Qaeda’s terror network”, contained any IEDs, or explosive components, or the dreaded Iranian EFPs. Not one of these hardened al-Qaeda members was reported to be armed, and the story contains not one mention of a weapons cache, or even a single round of ammunition being present in the house: just food, and clothing.

And that “threatening” man somewhere near the building, the one so ably gunned down by Coalition forces? There is nothing in the story to suggest that he had a gun, or a suicide belt, or even a really pointy-looking stick. Just a guy, standing somewhere in Mosul, who made a sudden movement after being accosted by an unknown number of foreign troops. Now and forever though, he is a “killed terrorist”.

Says MNF Spokesman Major Hall “Our pursuit of these terrorists will continue to disrupt their ability to hinder the security, stability, and growth that Iraqi citizens are entitled to” Yet one must wonder how 15 unarmed guys in a building containing food and clothing posed such a dire threat to the citizenry of Iraq.

21 thoughts on “Anti-Terrorist Raids”

  1. This is the neoconservative world view.

    Any male Arab or Muslim who is both too old and too young to be wearing diapers is a “terrorist”.

  2. Thank you for this report, Jason Ditz. From this inhabitant/taxpayer of the Corporation of Israel/usa, i humbly apologize to these particular fifteen inhabitants of Iraq.

  3. “If they run away they’re terrorists/insurgents, if they stand still they’re ‘well trained’ terrorists/insurgents!”

    Considering the lack of food and water which is rampant in “liberated” Iraq, how would stockpiled food and water seem suspicious? So if you are starving and dehydrated you are then “not” a terrorist? These kind of raids can’t possibly improve the image of the Imperial Stormtroopers, its very likely that whole neighborhoods will now starve because their food stockpiles have been confiscated by the “liberators”.

  4. How soon until US National Guard troops are going around the US blowing up bomb shelters and dried food supplies?

    1. Not very long, if the trends continue in their current direction. Deliberate or not, one of the effects of having soldiers mass murder civilians in Iraq is to prepare them for future domestic use. Eventually, the facade will crumble, and then things will get very ugly…

      1. The American population has been well trained to foe the past 7 years to accepet any thing in the name security!

        1. Thank goodness, Kenneth, but Lear K is right. Note the recent “fake invasion” of Marines in neighborhoods in Indianapolis, and on tv, stupes in the street said that it was alright with them because they are Marines, and Marines are doing what they are supposed to. The mayor exclaimed how he was fond for Marines (his having been one). Since they didn’t need to be training in Indpls., I think the purpose was to prepare us to accept martial law, and their future looking for, as one Marine spokesperson told a tv interviewer was their purpose in being in Indpls., “arab types”.

        2. Is there a pattern here:

          Israeli technology to keep US borders safe

          By Laura Goldman October 15, 2006

          For possibly the first time ever, the words Israel and border are in the same sentence and it doesn’t have anything to do with its own borders. The talent and expertise that Elbit Systems (NASDAQ ELST) has employed for years in protecting Israel’s borders will now be put to use on US borders to keep Americans safe.

          Kollsman Inc., an American-based subsidiary of Elbit, has been selected as a member of the winning consortium by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the Secure Asi–Border Initiative (SBI) to supply technology to identify threats, to deter and prevent crossings, and to apprehend intruders along the US borders with Canada and Mexico….

          [http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El1450&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Technology]

          Asi–Mexicanos no! Israelios, si!

        3. Great! So the Israelis make zillions advising us on how to deal with the terrorism problem caused in large part by our support for them.

      2. Which is why it’s important to visit your local firearms and ammo dealers and purchase as much as you can while they still have stock left to sell.

        1. Better: learn computer programming and hacking, so you can remove your name (and others’) from the various data banks and e-s**tlists.

          Learn to sing or play an instrument, too. As Fela Kuti said, the weapon of the future is music!

          Zhu Bajie

  5. As soon as NOW! Trained ALREADY to kill any who don’t follow all orders – even if orders are unclear! Tazers killed more than 300 Canadians the past 5 years – who knows how many from U.S.?
    They “joke” about it – just as the Nazi’s did – when going on a “Jew-Hunt”!

  6. Now I know what it must have felt like being a German citizen during WWII. I hope that someone organizes an national apology to the World after this monster goes.

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