Posted on: Monday, November 17, 2003

EDITORIAL
Fixed-wing bombings avenge, to what end?

Recent bombings of Iraqi compounds and of a three-family Baghdad farmhouse starkly illustrate the U.S. military's new harsh retaliatory approach to those who do anything to harm or kill American soldiers.

Employing a tactic that could come straight out of the Israel Defense Forces manual, U.S. soldiers track down individuals or families suspected of aiding and abetting attacks, and blow up their presumed hideouts.

They call it "strategic retribution and deterrence." And there's no disputing that U.S. soldiers are being horrifyingly provoked by bands of Iraqi fighters who remain loyal to the fallen regime of Saddam Hussein.

The retaliatory dropping of 1,000-pound laser-guided armaments sends a chilling signal to those who harbor attackers. But what if the homeowners were pressured into giving up their property to Saddam loyalists?

By now, we would have hoped that the war against Iraq would be focused on winning the hearts and minds of those who suffered under Saddam's rule. These fixed-wing bombings might satisfy the need for retaliation, but as Israel has learned, they're not winning the public relations war.

The challenge, then, is to convince Iraqis they have more to gain by staying out of a guerrilla war than by perpetuating a cycle of bloodshed.