U.S. soldiers fired a warning shot near a woman who "appeared to be signaling to someone" along a dangerous stretch of road north of Baghdad, but the bullet killed a young Iraqi girl, a military official said early Thursday.
The shooting took place Wednesday where several roadside bombs had recently been found in the volatile Diyala province. An exact location was not given in a military statement.
The girl appeared to be "around 10 years old," said Maj. Brad Leighton, a military spokesman.
There has been an increase in the use of women as suicide bombers in Iraq. But Leighton said preliminary reports indicated that soldiers didn't believe the woman posed a threat of being a bomber. Rather "they were afraid she was signaling to someone that the convoy was going by."
Yeah, I know what I'm getting into by posting this latest morsel:
"Accidents happen."
"This sort of thing is inevitable."
"We sincerely regret this incident."
You know what? Fuck that.
Sometime during the last year I've abandoned the anti-war crowd in favor of the Genuinely Frightened crowd. It's not nearly as much fun, incidentally: no protests, no sociable gatherings, no documentary film festivals, no guest speakers, and no petitions to help dull the pain. Just depression and the jarring sense of one's own uselessness.
5 comments:
Don't feel too bad Mac. I set sail on the "my voice doesn't actually count for shit" boat just over a year ago. My nephew came down with Leukemia and I welcomed a son into the world. After that, everything else happening in the world had the volume turned down. All the bureaucratic bullshit, the lies...they just didn't matter anymore.
You know something though, it feels pretty great to just let go of that paradigm! Even if it's a temporary kind of bliss. It actually made me seriously contemplate the benefits of completely self sustained living away from the grid, the city and the larger population in general. That inward reflection made me realize that you can only truly fix your immediate sphere of reality. Where you live, how you live, what you do for income, who you know, what you eat and what you can do to improve your local space. If everyone took that on the world would potentially fix itself in a bloom of microexpansive change.
Denny
Denny--
I've been thinking along similar lines. William Burroughs once said something to the effect that "the revolution will come only by ignoring others out of existence." I think there's some true wisdom in that.
Oh, and thanks for not being an anonymous warhawk out to give me a lesson in True Patriotism. :-)
I lost my patience with this "war" and the shoddy way it was handled years ago. So no warhawk-ism from me.
But you also have to remember that these troops are under incredible amounts of stress, and yes, this sort of thing is going to happen. Collateral damage sucks, but it's an unfortunate part the overall.
Hate the administration, hate the war, but PLEASE don't hate on the troops sent over there to deal with the bullshit. Most of them are young kids, being asked to do a very difficult task, and for the most part doing a pretty good job.
If you want to hear what REALLY is going on over there you should check out Michael Yon's website. Much more truthful and informative than what you get from the mainstream media.
http://michaelyon-online.com/
Hi Katie--
Hate the administration, hate the war, but PLEASE don't hate on the troops sent over there to deal with the bullshit. Most of them are young kids, being asked to do a very difficult task, and for the most part doing a pretty good job.
You'll hear no argument from me on that.
..but it's true, accidents do happen...Bush getting into power is proof of that...
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