One of the differences in conventional war and guerrilla war is that in conventional war, the basic assumption is that anyone on the battlefield is a combatant. Avoidance of civlian casualties focuses on issues like targeting and fighting in urban areas. In guerrilla war, it's much harder to tell who and where the enemy is.
A San Francisco Chronicle article on Monday shows some of the ways this is playing out: "Iraqis' guerrilla tactics blur terms of battle". One report might represent an isolated incident. But it's clear that there are a significant numbers of civilian killings happening that are highly questionable and also threaten the US mission to pacify Iraq. The NGO Human Rights Watch is raising questions about how carefully US authorities are investigating the reports of such incidents.
Its genuinely difficult for US soldiers to know who may be a hostile. Combine the fact that the Americans mostly don't speak Arabic, they have minimal assistance from local police or paramilitary forces who know the local areas, and that they were trained for battlefield combat instead of police work, and you've got a lot of potential for bad calls. This little anecdote captures the dilemma well:
As he rode through the garbage-strewn outskirts of Tikrit in the passenger seat of a humvee, Sgt. Derek White of the 299 Engineer Battalion held his M249 machine gun at the ready. A boy squatting by a roadside soda stand waved tentatively. Then, as the humvee sped by, the boy lifted his chin, squinted and spat in the direction of the passing vehicle.
"I don't need friends like this," White remarked. "They smile in your face during the daytime and they try to kill you at night."
And the soldiers who spoke to the reporter, Anna Badkhen, are starting to sound very punchy:
With Iraq guerrillas mounting between 10 and 20 hit-and-run attacks on U.S. troops daily, U.S. soldiers admit that the pressure of constantly being a target has made them jumpy.
The only way to respond, they say, is by following new, merciles rules of engagement stated one night last week by Lt. Peter Katzfey in front of 299 Engineer Battalion soldiers preparing for a night patrol in Tikrit:
"Shoot to kill. No questions asked.
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