Prevention

This is right up there with ‘we had to destroy the village in order to save it‘. Some rebels blow up a US vehicle in Baghdad. Afterwards, some pretty desperate people are swarming over the burning remains, presumably looking for scrap to sell. An Arab-language TV crew is reporting from the scene. A US helicopter gunship comes along and launches an aerial bombardment of the burning remains, in the process killing around a score of people (including some of the TV crew who were broadcasting the attack) and wounding dozens.

Now, it’s a pretty safe bet that none of the rebels who destroyed that vehicle were in the immediate vicinity – they are far too smart for that. The soldier passengers had earlier escaped. One more (or less) burning hulk in Baghdad is really not going to make any difference in the grand scheme of things. The people who are both dumb and desperate enough to crawl over the hazardous remains obviously present no immediate threat to the US occupation. So why fire on it and the crowd, further alienating (if that is even possible!) the Baghdad citizens?

“After evacuating the wounded, air support destroyed the Bradley fighting vehicle to prevent looting and harm to the Iraqi people,” the U.S. military said in a statement.

Obviously, the military types are pissed off at the harshest seige yet of the Western enclave within central Baghdad. But of course, with that kind of approach to crowd control, I expect further harm prevention measures will prove even more productive than the Pentagon’s recent efforts.