Zarqawi to target female soldiers

[Morgeruat]

Not really surprising, they're playing on the same public sensitivity that keeps female soldiers from combat MOS's (Miltary Occupational Specialities, ie jobs like infantry, fighter pilot, etc.)

http://www.washingtontimes.com/natio...2456-6466r.htm Terrorists in the Abu Musab Zarqawi network in Iraq are specifically trying to kidnap an American female service member to further horrify the U.S. public. Two senior defense sources said the word is being passed within the network on the importance of taking one or more women hostage. "We have heard through intelligence channels that several extremist organizations are attempting to capture coalition servicemen and women," said a senior military officer in Iraq. "We have instituted additional force protection methods to thwart these attempts." Another defense source said there is an "edict, either on paper or as an order," within terrorist networks to capture an American female service member. Of the 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, about 11,000 are women. They perform a variety of jobs, serving as drivers, medics, aviators, police and clerks. By law, they are banned from land combat, but they can still come into close contact with the enemy.

there's more, but that's the meat of the article.

Last I had heard, women were cleared to be combat pilots...Am I mistaken?

Edit: No I just remembered that they interviewed a Female A-10 Warthog pilot on the History Channel.


[ 07-01-2004, 03:17 PM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

[Morgeruat]

ah, my mistake then, I know they're still not allowed for most of the "combat" jobs, and assumed that combat pilot fell into that category.

[Night Stalker]

Women are allowed into aviation, ADA, and Heavy Engineer MOSs. It's kinda moot though, because at the TOC for say an Infantry Brigade, it's possible for females to hold the "staff" MOSs and yet they are still in front of the Forward Line of Battle.


Of course, there really aren't battle lines anymore ......

[Stratos]

Is it just me, or doesn't Zarqawi seem more and more desperate? Despite bombings and beheadings, the Coalition doesn't yield, and the terror tactics doesn't seem to work.

[johnny]

Originally posted by Stratos: Is it just me, or doesn't Zarqawi seem more and more desperate? Despite bombings and beheadings, the Coalition doesn't yield, and the terror tactics doesn't seem to work.

Has terror ever worked ? It's a desperate method to begin with, and as far as i know, it never got the terrorists the result they seek.

[ 07-01-2004, 05:35 PM: Message edited by: johnny ]

[Davros]

It sure seemed to have an effect on the Spanish elections Johnny. Even though the Spanish government set the scene for thie own demise with thier insistance that it was Etta. I am betting there would be terrorists about who saw that as a win for them.

On the topic of desperation, of course he is getting more and more desperate. The west gets better and better at tracing and nabbing these shitheads, so he knows he is on borrowed time.

[Felix The Assassin]

Females in combat, hmm Jessica Lynch.
How about CW3 C----- Y--------, she's the front seat, (gunner) on an AH-64 (Apache).
What about SGT R----- H-----, she's the BDE S-1 NCOIC, non-combatant, but at the BDE TOC none the less.
They are there. Just not in the big two roles. Armor & Infantry, theyv'e worked their way into all other MOSs.

I really don't think they will get what they are bargining for if they were to capture a female soldier.

[The Hierophant]

Originally posted by Felix The Assassin: I really don't think they will get what they are bargining for if they were to capture a female soldier.

Do you mean politically? As in the execution of a female soldier will not generate the fear that they hope it will?
Or do you mean in terms of imagined female passivity? Ie: the mistaken belief that female soldiers will not put up as much of a fight as males?

[ 07-02-2004, 01:53 AM: Message edited by: The Hierophant ]

[promethius9594]

i think, heirophant, that what he means is that such an execution of a female would show the chivalric roots of our society and demand an outcry/vengeance much more than a male would. it would be opening up a whole new can of worms that terrorists wouldnt expect.