Every day, we learn more about how "the good guys" wage war against evil. The latest tactic—disclosed during a military trial—is a little something called the "baiting program" and it was cooked by a group of humans collectively known the "the Asymmetrical Warfare Group." As reported in the New York Times, US snipers in Iraq are "using fake weapons and bomb-making material as bait and then killing anyone who picks them up."
 
 "Snipers are special people who are trained to shoot in a detached fashion, not to see their targets as human beings," said James D. Culp, one of the defendant's lawyers. "Snipers have split seconds to take shots, and he had a split second to decide whether to shoot."
 
We interrupt this article for a short Aldous Huxley break: "The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human."
 
We now return to our regularly scheduled War on Terror:
 
Capt. Matthew P. Didier, a sniper platoon leader said: "If someone found the item, picked it up and attempted to leave with the item," he said, "we would engage the individual, as I saw this as a sign that they would use the item against U.S. forces."
 
Engage, huh?
 
"It seems to me that there are all sorts of reasons that civilians would want to pick up ammunition that is sitting on the ground," said James Ross, the legal and policy director for Human Rights Watch.
 
This last quote reminded me of a bit made famous by the late comedian, Bill Hicks:
 
"We arm the world, we arm these little countries, and then we send troops over to blow the shit out of 'em. We're like the bullies of the world; we're like Jack Palance in the movie Shane, throwing the pistol at the sheepherder's feet.
 
Palance: "Pick it up."
 
Sheepherder: "I don't wanna pick it up, mister, you'll shoot me."
 
Palance: "Pick up the gun."
 
Sheepherder: "Look mister, I don't want no trouble, I just came to town to get some hard rock candy for my kids, and some gingham for my wife. I don't even know what gingham is, but she goes through about 4 or 5 rolls a week of that stuff. I don't want no trouble, mister."
 
Palance: "Pick up the gun."
 
[Sheepherder reluctantly picks up the gun. Palance promptly shoots him dead.]
 
Palance: "You all saw him. He had a gun."
 
 
Mickey Z. can be found on the Web at http://www.mickeyz.net.