US observers keep expressing puzzlement as to why the killing of hundreds or thousands of insurgents has not had an impact in repressing the guerrillas. They don’t seem to get it that Iraqi clans still matter and that when they kill an Iraqi, they anger the man’s brothers, uncles, and first and second cousins, some of whom step forward to take his place. In the US a lot of people don’t even know their cousins and certainly would not sacrifice their lives to avenge one. Iraq is not like that. So, it isn’t really even a matter of ideologies, necessarily. The US military has incurred enough clan feuds to keep the insurgencies going. And, of course, Iraqi and Arab nationalisms are powerful enough that people hate seeing Western troops in their country. The line between being angry about it and being angry enough to pick up a gun is a thin one.
And, as he was writing this, US troops graphically illustrated his point:
AN Iraqi motorist was shot dead by US troops today as he tried to overtake a military convoy, police and witnesses said.
The unidentified man was shunted into a wall by a Humvee and shot three times at close range, according to a witness.
A policeman at the scene said the US troops thought two Iraqis in a burgundy Nissan Concord car had been trying to attack them with grenades. However, no weapons were found.
“They thought they were trying to throw a grenade at them so they shot the driver,” said Lieutenant Abdul Nehbi Ibrahim.
US soldiers refused to comment and left the scene.
The victim lay in a pool of blood, his face covered with a square piece of blood-soaked cloth, as his distraught father vowed to join the insurgency against the foreign forces in Iraq.
“God curse the Americans!” he shouted.
Relatives at the scene said the victim had been due to get married on Thursday.