4 3rd Inf. Soldiers Killed.

[FallenAngel]

Heard today that 4 3rd Inf. soldiers were killed this morning in Iraq when a car bomb went off at their checkpoint.

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"IN THE IRAQI DESERT - A suicide bomber in a taxi killed four American soldiers in an attack Saturday. Iraq's vice president identified the bomber as a noncommissioned Iraqi army officer and said suicide attacks will now be "routine military policy."

"We will use any means to kill our enemy in our land and we will follow the enemy into its land," Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said. "This is just the beginning. You'll hear more pleasant news later"
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The Driver videntall stopped the car, waved the US soldiers over to assist with some sort of problem, and then the car exploded.

My personal Opinion: We shouldn't be so ready to take prisoners. We are sacrificing US servicemen for the prospect of protecting Civilians and surrendering Iraqis. The damn Iraqis have killed more of their OWN people so far. It would be better in the long run to get this war over in a harsher and quicker than a longer prolonged guerilla war.

Also, on a related note, the 4 Marines listed as MIA yesterday in Nasahirya may have been found in a shallow grave this morning. No word on how they may have died-- which would be considerable since we know the Iraqis have executed POWs.

[Kitsune]

But this is not so easy...
One of the objectives of the soldiers is to win the "Hearts and Minds" of the Iraqi people. Of course that is the last thing Saddam wants... so this suicide attack is just what he needs. It "demonstrates" the will of the Iraqi people to fight, more than anything else (but the suicide attacker was a shiit...typical for them to hate unbelievers and to seek martyrdom...on the other side they hate Saddam, too. Quite possible that it was an independent action and the regime just took credit for it). Additionally it makes the Coalition Forces more careful, as far as civilians are concerned. This enlarges the barrier already present between the soldiers and the Iraqis.

Still the best advice is to stay calm. Heightening attention makes sense...but one must keep in mind that a more ruthless tactic just plays into Saddams hands. In the end it could lead to a palestine like situation even after Saddams demise, and we certainly do not want that.
Hopefully this stays an isolated incident. There is still a chance that many Iraqis simply do not dare to raise against the regime, especially now when th coalition advance has stopped. Perhaps this changes, when the reenforcements arrive.
I am sceptical though. But this seems to be the only way now. The US have said A...now they must say B.

[96B]

Once it is confirmed that the regime is gone and most if not all military opposition is destroyed and the people are convinced we are there for them, they will rise up and rightfully take their country back. Back in 1991 they tried to uprise and when we left, they were slaughtered. The people are simply too afraid to say or do anything because after 30 years of oppression, it kinda wears on you and that is an understatement. It has been just over a week and we occupy 3/4 of the country, and out of a quarter million+ troops we have lost very little. The road to victory is just within sight. We will prevail, Iraq will be free, and our soldiers will be able to come home as heros.

[bruce]

:cry: i feel sorry for those young brave souls, but thats the price of war.kill or be killed

[dweebie]

Unfortunately this situation took a turn for the worst............
http://www.msnbc.com/c/0/146/819/10x7/030331_iraqss11a_04.jpg

Lebanese volunteers give the victory sign Monday as they leave Beirut to fight in Iraq, proclaiming they were ready to embrace death to expel U.S. and British forces from Arab land. Arabs volunteering for suicide missions in Iraq have left homes and families across the Middle East to fight what they fear is a U.S.-led crusade against all Muslims, Iraqi state television said Monday.

That is from the MSNBC site, it seems that reporting the news from their television station has "inspired" more ppl to do the same. The family of the dead man was rewarded an equivalent of $34,000 and a medal *i think, I'm not sure what medals* ... So my questions is are they allowing ppl in and out of the borders that are not Coaltion forces? That's some info I hadn't found. That's the only way I see to stop the reported 4,000 volunteer suicide bombers. And when in hell are they going to get the television stations off the freakin air? That's killing us, we've provided an information radio station, so they have ways to get info on what's going on.

[dweebie]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/01/sprj.irq.van.shooting/index.html
What i don't understand is what the captain supposedly said afterwards, ..... the platoon leader fired warning shots AND shot at the engine of the vehicle, I really DOUBT that was said and CNN has already been dawged within the media for reporting the war inaccurately, I haven't heard anything from the Washington Post .... but that line the captain "supposedly" says just seems a little more Hollywood screen play to me ..... then again, I could be wrong it HAS happened before ;) . I don't see what else the platoon leader could have done, and I don't see how he waited too long to fire a warning shot if he had time to shoot the engine afterwards.