(Excerpt) "The British show the way to win Iraqi hearts and minds By Patrick Bishop (Filed: 02/04/2003)
As I write this, the sound of bagpipes is drifting across the desert. It should seem incongruous, but in a funny way it doesn't. This dusty corner of Iraq has heard the skirl before. The names of the dead of the Scottish regiments killed in the 1914-21 campaign are inscribed on tablets in the memorial that stands, strangely intact, only a mile or so from here.
Nearly two weeks into the campaign, the Brits are managing somehow to fit in to Iraq. It's hot and dirty, there's no beer and not all the natives are friendly. But they will make the best of it - "crack on", as everyone around here says.
The same cannot be claimed for the Americans. The further they advance, the less comfortable they seem with their surroundings, a condition that can have terrible results, as the killing of women and children at a checkpoint shows.
It is often the case in war that allies look askance at each other. But considering the British and American armies as they pursue Saddam, one is still struck by the differences in the way that they go to war. The styles and attitudes are so distinct as to sometimes make it seem remarkable that they manage to be allies.
The impression the American forces give as they thunder up Route Tampa towards Baghdad is that everyone outside their ranks is a potential enemy: certainly the awe-struck peasants whose nervous waves are met with blank stares; and possibly the "unilateral" independent news teams whose pleas for food, fuel and shelter are brusquely rejected.
Indeed anyone who is not in a uniform that they instantly recognise is seen as a threat. The other day, British soldiers who were working on the edge of a camp I was staying in were fired on by a passing American convoy, who thought it was easier to shoot than to ask questions." -- Full story at URL.
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http://www.news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/02/ wjack02.xml
(Excerpt)
"Fruit dumplings play crucial role By Jack Fairweather in Gul Ashab outside Basra (Filed: 02/04/2003)
The three US special forces rangers dismounted from their vehicle wearing identical shades and un-reassuring smiles. "Hello, we're to offer you our services," said one, as he signalled to one of his men to provide covering fire from a heavy machinegun on the roof of his jeep.
"We're trilingual arms and explosives experts with full air support and medical assistance at your disposal, sir. We've come to debrief the local population to provide you with useful intelligence."
"Right you are," said the officer from A squadron, Queen's Dragoon Guards outside Gul Ashab. The village is under British control following a sweeping manoeuvre on Monday which took the squadron to the outskirts of Basra.
"We've got some special techniques to motivate them into helping you," said the special forces man.
"You know what?" said the British officer, "I don't think that will be strictly necessary."
Yesterday the British military's equivalent of meals on wheels rolled into Gul Ashab less than 24 hours after its liberation to scenes that would suggest the hearts and minds of Iraqis in and around Basra have already been won over.
As the American special forces unit disappeared in a puff of smoke, British soldiers drove through the village handing out food from their ration packs to the villagers who had come on to the streets to welcome them." -- Full story at URL.
-- William T Goodall Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/
"Build a man a fire, and he will be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life" - Terry Pratchett
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