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Harry & Helen Highwater are the cranky headmaster and mistress here, between us sharing duties as the site's editor, webmaster, cook, and janitor. Nothing much to say about us. We're the American working poor, two of many millions. Our email is xoxounknown@yahoo.com.

Is it terrorism to be a patriot? Or is it just like Red Dawn, only with turbans? by Helen & Harry Highwater Aug. 7, 2003 According to the commander of US ground forces in Iraq, US troops in Iraq are, in effect, a "terrorist magnet" there. The commander is saying it's terrorism when Iraqis kill US troops. Like any American, I grieve when US troops are killed. But is it "terrorism" to defend your homeland from invaders? This is a question of life and death, a question we asked before the US invasion, and it bears asking again: What is the proper response when foreign troops invade your country? What would you do? We could ask Miss Manners, I suppose, but — I know what I would do. I'm an American, red white and blue through and through. I loved *Red Dawn, and I believe in defending my country. I would definitely* try to kill any foreign troops that invaded America. I would be happy as heck to shoot them dead. I would be eager as anything to blow them up. I would be enchanted and overjoyed to poison them. And I would not feel constrained by the Geneva Convention's rules of polite warfare. So why is anyone surprised — and why is it called "terrorism" — when Iraqis do the same thing? It's just like *Red Dawn, only with turbans — and with US troops ordered by their traitorous commander-in-chief* to put their lives on the line for lies. So let's not lie about it. "Terrorist" is emphatically not the correct word for a person who successfully kills troops invading his or her country. The word is "hero" or "rebel," depending on your perspective. As human beings, Iraqis are entitled to human rights, the same as you and I. That includes the right to love and defend their nation, and the right to kill enemy troops who invade it. If you're a patriot, you would presumably do the same. So the urgent questions remain: Why were American troops ordered to invade, leaving thousands of Iraqis and hundreds of Americans dead? What has America gained from this, besides a lot of funerals, growing international distrust, and the increased probability of more attacks against America and Americans? © 2003, by the author. Comments? newsuneed@yahoo.com There's much more than this at Unknown News.	As human beings, Iraqis are entitled to human rights, the same as you and I. That includes the right to love and defend their nation, and the right to kill enemy troops who invade it.
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US troops in Iraq 'are terrorist magnet'
The Guardian [Manchester, UK] July 28, 2003

The commander of US ground forces in Iraq today said that his soldiers had become a "magnet" for foreign terrorists who wanted to strike at America.

Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez said the sophistication of the guerilla attacks, which Washington customarily blames on the former regime's loyalists, had increased over the last month.

"We have to understand that we have a multiple-faceted conflict going on here in Iraq. We've got terrorist activity, we've got former regime leadership, we have criminals, and we have some hired assassins that are attacking our soldiers on a daily basis," he told CNN.

Shortly after he spoke, two US soldiers in Baghdad were seriously injured when a man dropped a grenade from a road bridge onto their canvas-top Humvee as it passed below along Palestine Street.

Guerrilla-style attacks on US forces have killed 49 soldiers in Iraq since the US president, George Bush, declared major combat over on May 1.

Lt Gen Sanchez did not elaborate on the nationalities of the individuals behind such attacks but said there was no evidence any country was sponsoring the fighters.

"[There] is what I would call a terrorist magnet where America, being present here in Iraq, creates a target of opportunity if you will," he explained.

Aside from a group linked to al-Qaida claiming responsibility for some attacks, gunmen who describe themselves as members of the Fedayeen militia have said they will avenge the deaths of Uday and Qusay Saddam Hussein on US forces and Iraqis who collaborate with them.

Washington meanwhile hopes to end the attacks by capturing or killing Saddam Hussein and his senior aides. US officials believe Iraqis will be more willing to cooperate with the occupation armies if they can be certain their former leader will not return and take revenge.

General Richard Myers, the chairman of US joint chiefs of staff, today said the day when Saddam was in US hands was drawing closer and it was "just a matter of time" before he was found.

"There's been a big rise in the numbers [of informers] coming forward, providing evidence of weapons caches and of where people are," he told reporters in Baghdad.

But the operation to snare Saddam is not without casualties. Five civilians were last night reportedly killed in a raid on a house in Baghdad's al-Mansour district that its owner claimed the US believed was sheltering Saddam.

Rabeeah Amin, a tribal leader, said the soldiers had broken down the door and ransacked his villa.

"I was told they had been tipped off that Saddam was hiding in my house, that he was in fact my guest," he told Reuters. "But I know nothing about this."

A US soldier at a nearby hospital said five bodies and at least eight wounded had been brought in from the scene of the raid. An Iraqi policeman said all the dead had been in cars fired on by troops as they drove through the area.

In another series of raids intended to capture the leaders of the former regime troops of the 4th Infantry Division yesterday moved in on three farms around Tikrit, Saddam's hometown.

Hundreds of soldiers, backed by Bradley fighting vehicles, surrounded the farms as Apache attack helicopters hovered above. No shots were fired as about 25 men emerged from the houses peacefully.

The raid was prompted the capture last week of a group of men in Tikrit believed to include as many as 10 of Saddam's bodyguards. Soldiers learned from them that Saddam's new security chief - and possibly the dictator himself - were staying at one of the farms.

"The noose is tightening around these guys," said Colonel James Hickey, a brigade commander. "They're running out of places to hide, and it's becoming difficult for them to move because we're everywhere. Any day now we're going to knock on their door, or kick in their door, and they know it."

Published by
The Guardian [Manchester, UK]