Women and Children First —
I can’t help but picture these grandmothers as charred corpses. Hussein hands out guns, thereby making his civilians combatants. The US kills them, then Hussein, and the NYT, claims them as civilian deaths. I’m somewhat heartened by the fact that people aren’t dumb when it comes to self-preservation, and will very quickly lose the AKs and hide when the American troops thunder into the already decimated town. I hope for the best for the like of Faris Zubaid who says, “We will show them our bravery. We will show them we can fight. And we will fight until we win or die.” Once the heavens tear open, I figure a situational assesment of the odds of winning against death will reveal to Faris that fighting in this case is not an instance of bravery. Building a liberal democracy in fucking Iraq, now that takes bravery. So save it. Please, please save it.
Will Wilkinson 