A short rant...

[blufive]

The US Army is destroying houses they suspect are being used by insurgents in Iraq.

Billmon has a good post up, detailing how this not only contravenes the Geneva Conventions (so, how many times have they [1] done that this year?) but is also monumentally stupid from a strategic point of view:

Kicking women and children into the street on five minutes notice before blowing up their homes is a pretty feeble counterinsurgency tactic. On the other hand, it's a superb strategy for promoting group solidarity among Sunni Iraqis, further inflaming global anti-Americanism [...] and convincing the Arab world that Iraq really is just another Palestine writ large. All in all, a welcome shot in the arm for the Al Qaeda recruitment office.

It's becoming ever more clear that the only real post-invasion planning was "...and they'll all live happily ever after"

[1]Or should I say we, given that British forces are involved in the war too. Though I've yet to see any indication that Brits have been directly involved in anything this dumb.

Comments

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I wish the American public actually considered what was being done by its government. But I don't know if it cares. Sigh.