Investigators believe American soldiers spent nearly a week plotting an attack in which they raped an Iraqi woman, then killed her and her family in an insurgent-ridden area south of Baghdad, a U.S. military official said Saturday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said the attack appeared "totally premeditated" and that the soldiers apparently "studied" the family for about a week before carrying out the attack.
According to the official, the Sunni Arab family had just moved into a new home in the religiously mixed area about 20 miles south of Baghdad. The Americans entered the home, separated three family members from the woman, then raped her and set fire to her body, the official said. The three others were also slain. A senior Army official who also requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing said one of the victims was a child.
If a Shiite militia did this, we would call it sectarian violence or ethnic cleansing. We're doing the sectarian insurgents' work for them. Set a deadline (one very soon) and get out.
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Yes, yes, yes. With all due dispatch.
Removal of US troops will (arbuably) decrease the violence, not increase it. We heard the same arguments in Vietnam: if we get out the ensuing chaos will be worse, even unimaginable. Well, yes, it was unimaginable for those with feeble imaginations, because the chaos didn't happen.
There will be chaos in Iraq whether we leave now or later. The Iraqis want us out now, we should therefore cut our loses and pull out of there while we still have some semblance honor.
Also, it's time we stopped waging a metaphorical war on terrorism which will never end (just like the "War On Drugs"). We need to start treating terrorists like the thugs they are. That's why we have organizations like INTERPOL, etc..
GE