Wednesday, June 09, 2004
NOT A WAR I'D LIKE TO FIGHT, PART 3 Ok so this breaks the pattern set by the post on British and American troops in Iraq, but I think it's quite a good illustration of how sophisticated these sorts of civilian bind-in tactics can be and what amount of preparation can be put behind them:
Thankfully our enemies in Iraq do not have that kind of organisational infrastructure available to the PA (yet?), but it does show that there is potential for this sort of thing to become far more common and ugly in Iraq. It can't harm us to be prepared.The principal of a school in Rafah "called for all the citizens, women, children and elderly to participate" according to the May 17, Al Ayyam newspaper.
The call was answered. Thousands of civilians marched into the heart of the battle zone. Tragically, this is not the first time the PA has urged civilians into combat zones. It is part of a consistent and disturbing pattern. Since the outbreak of violence in October 2000, the PA has been pushing civilians, especially children, to leave the safety of their homes and join the fighting.
