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Journalism of Courage
Suicide attacks like the one in which four US soldiers died on Saturday present a new worry for troops, but will have more of an effect on the war8217;s aftermath and the political situation in Iraq than on the immediate course of the fighting, experts said. Suicide attacks are not new. From Japanese kamikaze pilots of WW II who crashed their planes into US ships, to truck bomb attack on a Marine barrack in Lebanon in 1983, US fighting forces have confronted such tactics for decades. This time, someone in civilian clothes, driving a taxi, stopped at a checkpoint, waved as if he needed help, and when soldiers approached, blew up his car.
That, understandably, will make soldiers wary of civilians, experts said. And it will complicate US and coalition forces8217; plans to win the war and rebuild the country. 8216;8216;They US soldiers might say, Let8217;s just blow up the car before it blows us up,8217;8217; said Gideon Rose, an analyst for the Council on Foreign Relations.
Scott Lasensky, fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, noted that suicide bombing has a long history in West Asia. It is also viewed as martyrdom by some Arabs. 8216;8216;Chemical weapons attacks would play very badly in the court of public opinion,8217;8217; Lasensky said. 8216;8216;But suicide attacks are a desperation tactic that will help him Saddam Hussein in the court of public opinion in the Arab world.8217;8217;
Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said at the Pentagon on Saturday that the taxi-bomb attack 8216;8216;looks and feels like terrorism. It won8217;t change our overall rules of engagement, but to protect our soldiers, it clearly requires great care.8217;8217;
In military jargon, the word 8216;8216;terrorism8217;8217; generally connotes an attack on civilians, experts said. An attack on a military target, even a suicide attack like a kamikaze, is not defined that way partly because the attacker was clearly defined as military. An attack by someone in civilian clothes and driving a civilian vehicle falls into a murky area.
8216;8216;Unlawful combatants attacking soldiers is in kind of a gray area between warfare and terrorism,8217;8217; Pike said. But for the ordinary soldier patrolling a checkpoint in Iraq, attitudes are likely to have changed.
