Four Iraqis, including police colonel, killed in attacks

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040821/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_unrest&cid=1514&ncid=1480

<snip>
RAMADI, Iraq (AFP) - A senior policeman was shot dead in the restive western city of Ramadi, while four Iraqis were killed and 13 wounded in a string of attacks across the country, police and medics said.


<snip>
Further north, in the troubled city of Baquba, a roadside bomb exploded at about the same time, killing a peddler and wounding five dustmen, police and medics said.


"The peddler was selling gas cylinders and the others were dustmen. As far as we know, a US convoy was the target but the bomb exploded before it arrived," said First Lieutenant Ali Hussein.


Another Baquba dustman was killed and another wounded when they opened what looked like a US soldier's food package. A bomb inside, disguised as a bottle, exploded in their hands at around 9:00 am (0500 GMT), said a medic.


Up in Mosul, one national guardsman was killed when a roadside bomb exploded in the path of his convoy in the Al-Baladiat district of the main northern city, said Captain Aws Mohammed Adel.

[0007]

1. What is a dustman?

[acmavm]

2. Whatever he was, he's dead. Thanks to a certain bunch of ....

I don't know of a single word to use to describe the people who got us into this mess anymore.

Liars, incompetants, frauds, theives, killers-by-proxy, it just seems all too inadequate.

[Ms. Clio]

3. I think it is a janitor or street cleaner n/t

[daleo]

4. In Britain, I think it means "garbage collector"

I don't know if that is the usage in this story, though.

On edit: I wonder what is going on in this incident:
"Another Baquba dustman was killed and another wounded when they opened what looked like a US soldier's food package. A bomb inside, disguised as a bottle, exploded in their hands at around 9:00 am (0500 GMT), said a medic."

[Ms. Clio]

5. Yes, I think you're right

And that is strange, isn't it? I wondered the same thing--did they pick it up off the street? And disguising bombs in items that appear to be soldier food packages--what does that say about the insurgency's strategy and tactics?

[daleo]

6. Here is a speculation or two, nothing more

The U.S. forces may be giving out food ration packages to civilians to "win hearts and minds". The resistance may have be booby-trapping them to insure that the tactic is not effective - no fraternization with the enemy. Of course, it could be counter-ops by CIA types to make the resistance look bad, too.

Or, maybe rations are being stolen from the U.S., then booby trapped and put in garbage. When U.S. forces see them, and retrieve the rations to use as evidence against the presumptive thieves, the charge goes off.

[Ms. Clio]

7. Thanks for your thoughts--those ideas would never have occurred to me

And they all sound quite plausible.

What a horror we have made of their country.