Suggestion to the Iraqi Red Crescent: go home

Perhaps if they'd stop listening to their own bullshit, the Red Crescent would hear the voice of reason.

Iraqi Red Crescent: U.S. Threatens Work

GENEVA -- Harassment from U.S. forces is a greater threat to the work of the Iraqi Red Crescent than insurgent attacks, a senior official of the Red Cross-linked humanitarian organization said Friday.

Dr. Jamal Al-Karbouli, vice president of the Iraqi Red Crescent, said some U.S. forces appeared not to realize that the society, which uses as its symbol the Muslim red crescent instead of the red cross, was part of the international humanitarian movement.

"The main problem we are facing is the American forces more than the other forces," Al-Karbouli told reporters in Geneva. "We are spending a lot of time to explain about the Red Crescent."

Al-Karbouli said insurgent groups in Iraq did not pose as great a problem for the organization.

"The insurgents, they are Iraqis, a lot of them are Iraqis, and they respect the Iraqis. And they respect our (the Red Crescent's) identity, which is neutrality."

He also complained that Red Crescent offices in Baghdad, Anbar and Najaf provinces had been repeatedly "attacked" by U.S.-led multi-national forces searching for insurgents.

"We have flags, we have everything, we have (the) logo, so they (U.S. forces) know everything, but unfortunately they come again and attack us many times," Al-Karbouli said. He complained that U.S. forces broke doors and windows at the Red Crescent headquarters "and they didn't find anything, and they left."

Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said the U.S.-led coalition forces "strive to ensure they are respectful when they conduct interaction with the local population."

"When we conduct searches, we do not 'attack' the place we are searching," he said.

If Al-Karbouli's head were filled with brain matter instead of camel dung, he'd realize the simple logic that if U.S. and Iraqi forces gave automatic passes to anyone claiming to be part of the Red Crescent, "insurgents" would start donning Red Crescent insignia. Moreover, it stands to reason that they already have, or that Red Crescent personnel are giving safe haven to them: why else would U.S. forces trouble themselves with going to Red Crescent headquarters, except to chase gunmen and mortar operators trying to appear like Red Crescent workers or using the headquarters as safe ground?

If the Red Crescent is so worried about what's happening to them, then my suggestion is that they get the hell out. The truth is that they have far more to fear from the "insurgents" that "respect" Iraqis: just today, 28 people at the Baghdad Red Crescent office were kidnapped. The gunmen wore Iraqi army uniforms, a popular disguise. But even before that, Al-Karbullshit's claim about Iraqis respecting Iraqis is a laughable one to anyone paying attention.