Be very very Quiet, I'm Hunting Humans

Not a lot of things surprise me anymore. But this story from the Washington Post has me scratching my head.

A classified "Baiting" program in Iraq has come to light. Here is a brief rundown:

Military snipers place "drop items" such as ammunition boxes, detonation cords, or plastic explosives out in plain sight and then wait. When the items are picked up and people try to make off with them ..well, its pink mist time.

Apparently there is pressure on snipers to "take down" more insurgents in response to high US casualties. This sounds like a twisted quota program, but I digress...

Call me a bleeding heart left-wing commie hippie liberal pacifist, but I have a couple problems with this "tactic". First, the misguided justification that assumes that anyone who may try to pick up something will try to use the item against the US forces. The article quotes an official:

Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, said such a baiting program should be examined "quite meticulously" because it raises troubling possibilities, such as what happens when civilians pick up the items.

Well, no shit sherlock! Last I checked we weren't actually fighting against any real military in Iraq. Hence the name "Insurgents". So, technically speaking aren't they all civilians? Fine, you can make the point that civilian in this case means non-insurgent, but have you met anyone who can spot the difference between a civilian and an "insurgent" through a sniper scope? (I suppose you could use the old "If they run they are insurgents, if they stand still they are well-disciplined insurgents.")

What happens when children come along and pick up the "drop items"? What about someone who thinks it is valuable and plans to sell it to feed his family? (the economy isn't exactly booming in Iraq- actually it is "Booming"- quite literally)

Whether you believe that we should be in Iraq or not, this practice is disturbing to say the least. I mean it takes all the sport out of war doesn't it? What's next shooting civilians on sight just because they have that "shady Al-Kayda look to 'em"...oh wait we have done that, Thank You Blackwater! Next thing you know we will be torturing people in prisons and ignoring our own Constitution.....oh, nevermind.

My second problem with this is what about the snipers? We are basically asking a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds to (we can argue semantics here) commit cold blooded murder. Do we think this won't affect them when they return home? I suppose it is one thing to kill another human under the setting of a war- or even for a sniper to "neutralize" military targets, but laying in wait for anyone unlucky or curious enough to happen by and them execute them is another thing indeed.

Our tax dollars hard at work spreading freedom, one dead Iraqi at a time.