Agence France-Presse, At the urging of Pentagon experts in special operations, U.S. military snipers operating in Iraq are “baiting” Iraqis by scattering items like detonation cord, plastic explosives and ammunition and then ambushing and killing those who pick them up, The Washington Post reported Sept. 24.
The newspaper said the classified program was described in investigative documents related to recently filed murder charges against three snipers who are accused of planting evidence on Iraqis they killed.
“Baiting is putting an object out there that we know they will use, with the intention of destroying the enemy,” Capt. Matthew Didier, the leader of an elite sniper scout platoon is quoted as saying in a sworn statement. “Basically, we would put an item out there and watch it. If someone found the item, picked it up and attempted to leave with the item, we would engage the individual as I saw this as a sign they would use the item against U.S. forces.”
In documents obtained by the paper from family members of the accused soldiers, Didier said members of the Pentagon’s Asymmetric Warfare Group visited his unit in January and later passed along ammunition boxes filled with the “drop items” to be used to disrupt … attempts at harming Coalition Forces and give us the upper hand in a fight.”
Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, said such a baiting program should be examined “quite meticulously” because it raises troubling possibilities, such as what happens when civilians pick up the items, the paper said.
“In a country that is awash in armaments and magazines and implements of war, if every time somebody picked up something that was potentially useful as a weapon, you might as well ask every Iraqi to walk around with a target on his back,” Fidell is quoted in the article as saying.
Soldiers said about a dozen platoon members were aware of the program, and that numerous others knew about the “drop items” but did not know their purpose, the newspaper reported.
Two soldiers, who had not been officially informed about the program, came forward with allegations of wrongdoing after they learned they were going to be punished for falling asleep on a sniper mission, the paper said.
Army officials declined to discuss the classified program, according to the report.
