Could you tell the difference between civilian and militant in Irag?

Question

Could you tell the difference in a combatant and a civilian if you were a soldier /Marine operateing in Iraq? How can you tell? If you opened a door to a house across the street from where a bomb killed 3 Marines and you had an instant to judge Friend or enemy. What criteria do you use?

Ross Perot want to know"did you hear that sucking sound?"

Answer 1

Follow the rules of engagement. That is all you can do. War ceased to be battle between two distinctly uniformed forces sometime ago. Now we fight people who discard their uniforms in favor of civilian clothing to give them a perceived advantage in combat. Yes it makes proper identification almost impossible, so the use of force has to be based on actions, not flags or uniforms.

Answer 2

Bloody good question.

Unfortunately all these armchair warriors...sorry peace protesters think that combat is like a hollywood movie or a video game where all the bad guys are easily identifiable and wearing a uniform.

What they dont realise is that one of those brave insurgents will dress as a civilian and stand in the middle of civilians as he gives you the good news with an AK47.

I can imagine what happened with those marines. They had been ambushed and one of their squad blown to pieces in front of them. They were taking a lot of fire from half a dozen buildings and they returned that fire including storming the buildings.

When you enter a building where someone is trying their best to seperate your head from your body with 7.62 bullets and there is noise smoke and bullets flying everywhere you do not knock politely and stick your head around the door. Its kill or be killed.

If it then turned out that there were civilians in there as well as the Insurgents then it is the fault of the bad guys for using the civilians as shields.

Maybe also civilians should think twice about staying around when they are letting people with AK47's use their front rooms as foxholes.

How many times also have we seen news footage of young children getting shot in gun battles between army and militants in all kinds of places? What kind of parent lets their children go out and throw stones at armoured cars when they know that at some point someone is going to turn it into a gunfight?

"Hey eleven year old son, Ahmed is going to whip up a riot this afternoon on the high street so that some of the brothers can try and shoot some soldiers. Why dont you and your pals pop down there on your BMX's and join in? Oh and can you pop in the butchers on the way home and get me some Lamb"...

Answer 3

This has been ongoing problems since wars started. The Germans looked just as much like the allies that were attacking. The Koreans and VietCong were the same way. There are some ways to tell the difference but at most it's a guessing game.

Answer 4

Civilians are for the most part cool, they just go about their daily business and try to live their lives peacefully. Militants shoot and bomb the civilians, (And US troops, if it's not too much trouble).

Answer 5

fairly smart extremely They in good structure a tiny digicam that can see through textile into each booby catch This digicam can then see if the flair sufferer is circumcised . if so boom This tale is as real as i'm sitting the following driving a bike

Answer 6

The marines would have multiples forms of weaponry whereas the civilains would have maybe one.

The marines would be wearing the signature helmets, Civilains don't wear those.

The civilians would be shouting, "Death to America". (joke)

Answer 7

Have been wondering the same question too.Seems we can't tell the different untill they shoot you first.

Answer 8

well the IA's wear uniforms...and they also have specific badges...also the officers carry 9's

Answer 9

Hose 'em all. The Almighty will know his own.

Answer 10

the bad guys shoot guns at you, and protect those who shoot guns at you.