US Army Uses Iraqi Children As Human Shields Again

Twenty-four Iraqi children were killed Wednesday by a suicide car bomber targeting American soldiers handing out sweets after entering their Baghdad neighborhood precisely to warn of a possible attack.

Some 20 more children were wounded in the blast, while a US soldier died and three were injured, hospital and US sources said. "A driver approached one of the US Humvees and then detonated his car," said Sergeant David Abrams.

[...]

"Children gathered round the Americans who were handing out sweets. Suddenly a suicide car bomber drove round from a side street and blew himself up," Hassan Mohammed added.

The last such attack involved a triple car bombing against US troops inaugurating a water treatment plant in western Baghdad on September 30. Forty-three people were killed, including 37 children who had gathered to take candy from the soldiers

Who is more to blame? The Iraqi resistance targeting occupation military soldiers or the coward US army hiding behind Iraqi kids?

The attacks that target Iraqi civilians should be condemned whether they're carried out by the US army (like the daily attacks) or by others (like some ethnic attacks against mosques and individuals). Yet, the attacks targeting military convoys that kills Iraqi civilians gathering around them is another story, or at least a more controversial one. Civilians shouldn't be put in danger by sending military troops close to their homes.

Niki linked to a US soldier's blog some months ago quoting him saying: "I'm going to probably buy alot of candy when I goto the PX in the camp. That way, I can hand it out to the kids. They'll be more likely to help us avoid things we wouldn't otherwise be able to avoid if not for them". Maybe some of these quotes were the reason why A 3 star General approved an "order" that all milbloggers have to tell their chain of command about their blog . It seems we won't be enjoying some new smart quotes any more...

Using kids as human shields is such a shameful US Army policy.

On a second note, we're still searching for the family member who disappeared in Baghdad yesterday. All of my family and friends are searching in hospitals and morgues around the city, in addition to many visits to all Iraqi police stations, Iraqi Army jails, Iraqi special forces jails, Iraqi armed militias jails, and the US army jails and prisons. We were told that even if he was detained no information is usually available in the first couple of weeks.

We're not announcing his name for security reasons, in case he was kidnapped by a (non-governmental) gang.