As much as I am entirely against the United States war for oil mission to bring peace and democracy in oil rich Iraq, I would say support to a degree the notion of “supporting the troops.” Having said that, doesn’t your heart just sink when you see this kind of thing.
Being so far away and entirely unfamiliar with the culture of Iraq it is, of course, hard for any of us to truly understand the pressures the soldiers are under. But spare a moment to consider how exactly the United States army are “winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people” when they ram their cars with families in, ram buses full of people, and miss children running across the road in moments that would stop the hearts of you or I.
The reason why they drive like this is to limit the risk of attack, which I understand entirely. But put yourself in an Iraqi’s boots for one moment. All you see in a big ol’ wagon full of yanks screaming through your streets ramming vehicles, causing damage and maybe even accidents too while paying little or no regard to the order it is that they’re supposed to be bringing to the country.
I sympathize too with the soldiers. Having to drive like this is unhelpful in creating any goodwill between them and the average Iraqi. They say they need to do this because if they’re stationary for any length of they invariably come under fire, then they have to shoot back and they’ve now become the “bad guy.” But doesn’t that sound like a ‘chicken and egg’ situation? – Someone will shoot at us because they don’t like us, so in order to avoid the threats from angry anti-American people we ram other road users out of the way wherever we go which… makes people feel angry and anti-American. – Hmm?
Imagine then a slightly different version of this video. Lets say, for example, the the soldiers were in fact firemen aboard and fire truck on not the streets of Iraq but the streets of America. Imagine them screaming down the street sirens wailing as they try to weave their way through busy rush hour traffic. They start to ram vehicles out of the way, many vehicles over and over, some with families and children in. Now imagine seeing this on your favorite evening news show. Do you suppose there would be an outcry or would Americans feel this was acceptable?
On the bright side though, I suppose when America is done bringing freedom to Iraq, and when the “hearts and minds” have been won, the Iraqi people will be able to exercise a freedom that you know would be exercised in the United States had this incident happened there… They’ll be able to sue someone for millions of dollars. Long live democracy.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 8, 2007 at 12:03 pm
yep! its a total cockup alright! *sigh* I “wish” there was a way of solving it. It seems to me a bit like deliberately poking a stick into an ants nest if you ask me..all this kind of thing.
I pretty much gave up listening to the news this past year because my heart practically breaks whenever I hear about the Iraq fiasco. But our leaders here are so co-dependant they will follow American leaders over all manner of cliffs until the cows come home! …it seems that that will be long before our beleaguered troops do :(
Wrote the following comment on Feb 9, 2007 at 8:55 pm
I’m just glad they didn’t actually hit a pedestrian in this movie. I was dreading seeing it. I’m sure they probably have though at some point.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 16, 2007 at 3:44 am
Now, I’m not sure, but I don’t think lights and sirens are standard equipment on a HMMMV.
Judging by the fact that people moved out of the way WITHOUT getting bumped indicates that they saw the Americans and (just as you or I would have seen/heard an emergency vehicle) moved out of the way.
Also, IMHO, using the term ‘ram’ to describe what the HMMMV driver did, is a bit exagerated, wouldn’t you think?
Wrote the following comment on Feb 16, 2007 at 3:55 am
Well Michael, the people are visibly jolted in a couple of the cars we see get “bumped”, “thumped”, “kissed”, “nudged”, or whatever word you want to use to replace ram ;-)
The thing is though, you can’t put sirens or lights on a humvee because that would defeat the object in the first place wouldn’t it. They don’t want to sit in traffic because they don’t want to be a target. Fair enough. So putting lights and sirens on the vehicle would alert any would-be sniper to the approach of the Americans. Bad idea.
Any which way you cut it, this clip is depressing in that it shows the sorry state of affairs in Iraq. I understand the soldiers actions, but I also understand how having my car hit by a great big truck full of yanks might also piss people off.
If the Americans have to act above the law to maintain the law then what’s the point of the law if those who are trying to instill it pay no regard to it? Yes you could argue that thumping into innocent peoples cars and driving the wrong way around Iraqi streets isn’t a high crime, but those boys are all the Iraqi people really know of America and the “freedoms” America is wishing to bring. Think about that for a while.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 17, 2007 at 5:30 pm
I am afraid that I have to agree with Michael, the term “ramming” is definetly a bit exaggerated. They did “nudge” the cars in front of them, and obviously this is routine in the streets because most of the cars were smart enough to get out of the way. Clearly they were not going too fast otherwise the guy picking his nose would have been in a little bit more of a hurry. I personally only saw one kid running “amock” in the street, and he merely ran across it. Big deal.
Also consider the context of Iraq. We would be upset about a firetruck ramming people-maybe, but if the morons in front of them refused to get out of the way (as they often do) I for one would not be opposed to a little “nudging.” I do not think Americans act “above the law” in the way you are using it. I have friends who get all bent out of shape because they see the police speeding. Duh! They speed to the scene of a crime or disaster, or any other issue–just like the soldiers were probably doing. And yes, unlike police they have people shooting at them if they stop. Winning hearts and minds is about more than motorway skills, its about ideological agreement, which admittedly we will be hard pressed to achieve.
Thus, its about far more than safe driving, its about conforming to a system of religious opprossion and facism that has erupted into an internal civil war claming far more lives and degrading the quality of life for the average Iraqi more than the Americans ever did. Yes, the “invasion” created a context in which warring religious factions are now able to vie for power, but the reason they want foreign troops is so that–and nearly every legitmate analyst whatever their political persuasion agree–they can fight it out without outside intervention, and that my freinds would be a true travesty, whatever you think of the allied troops motivation for being there in the first place.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 18, 2007 at 12:39 am
I would be disgusted in the United States were to pull out of Iraq now after making such a dogs dinner of the situation out there. Only time will tell if this occupation of the oil rich state ends up being of any conceivable benefit for the people of Iraq. I sincerely hope it is. I actually hope that history looks back and judges the unpopular President Bush as one of the bravest and best Presidents in the history of the United States, I seriously mean that. Because if history can look back and say that about Bush, then all of his crimes as we see them today will have perhaps been justified by the end, by the peace in the middle east he brought. But really, as I see it, Bush has done nothing but stir a nest that didn’t need stirring.
Referring back to the use of the word “ram” in my post, I’ve already said that you are free to substitute it with whatever word you feel describes thumping into another moving vehicle. Of course I don’t know if “nudging” a moving vehicle is legal on the roads of Iraq, but I wouldn’t mind driving the wrong way along a street probably is. In this way I am absolutely correct in suggesting that the soldiers are acting above the law. However, as I also clearly stated in my post, I understand why they are forced to do this – because they are not well respected there. My point was though, that by acting in the way they do in the video it’s not hard to see why Iraqi people might not see Americans in their best light. THAT was the crux of what I wrote, getting tangled up in my choice of vehicle contact description is, I would suggest, simply allowing oneself to be distracted by less important things.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 18, 2007 at 10:03 pm
“all of his crimes as we see them”
Hol-e-shit dude…
“stir a nest that didn’t need stirring”
Yes, the enemies of the US have indeed done this.
The world was (for the most part) fat dumb and happy before 9/11/01.
Obviously, doing nothing resulted in 3000+ US (and 300+ UK, did you forget them?) deaths and the hatred/disrespect from the rest of the world.
Make no mistake, the US is at war.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 18, 2007 at 11:13 pm
Certainly an interesting perspective Michael. Thanks for the comment.