Beware of 'suicide prisoners', troops told

The Times ^ | March 17, 2003 | Chris Ayres

[MadIvan]

This could be the biggest problem in the war.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[Consort]

Put all prisoners under the control of the Iraqi Opposition and the Kurds.

[teletech]

Seems simple enough to me. You halt the prisoners at a safe distance and tell them to strip! I mean take it ALL off! Then, if you find they have explosives you give them a choice of removing same at a safe distance or being shot!

[Defiant]

I don't understand why they don't make prisoners strip at a distance. Those that are clean can be marked, and we don't have to worry about them anymore.

This was a problem in Afghanistan, too--remember how the uprising at the prison started? Hopefully, we have worked out some procedures that minimize the risk.

[PoisedWoman]

make prisoners strip at a distance.

Horrible mental image. Yuk! What will we give them to wear? Do we have 2,234,541 orange suits available?

[Defiant]

They would get back in their clothes once it had been checked and all military hardware removed. We could let them keep their stained underwear.

[George W. Bush]

Seems simple enough to me. You halt the prisoners at a safe distance and tell them to strip! I mean take it ALL off!

Probably just to their briefs. We have womenfolk among our soldiers. They can't hide too much in their briefs.

[teletech]

Probably just to their briefs. We have womenfolk among our soldiers. They can't hide too much in their briefs.

Would you rather our women soldiers see something they have all probably seen before or be sent home in body bags because we got careless? I say the former.

[prairiebreeze]

My first solution too.

Prairie

[TimPatriot]

Another possibility that I hope we have thought of is that Sadaam infects "soldiers" with some contagious disease and then lets them surrender. Fortunately, I believe the troops are well innoculated for what is expected to be possible.

[Judith Anne]

Absolutely make them strip at a distance! Safety first!

[George W. Bush]

Would you rather our women soldiers see something they have all probably seen before or be sent home in body bags because we got careless? I say the former.

I expect they won't make them strip at all. I do recall that in the Iran-Iraq war, POW's were shown shirtless, apparently that is pretty standard surrender procedure in the region.

Pretty hard to hide real explosives big enough to kill a bunch of people on the pelvis or along the legs, even with baggy pants. Suicide bombers don't go for one-to-one exchanges. They seem to have a need to take at least 5-10 people with them. And that usually only happens on a bus or in a crowd or some other very confined space where their explosives are more effective.

Also, you have to consider that planting a suicide bomber in the midst of a large group might be difficult because the soldiers trying to surrender might worry that they might get shot if they allow a suicide bomber to kill their captors.

At any rate, I think our military has a good enough handle on the problem. Except maybe for how to feed and handle so many of them over a very long supply line. But I'm content to leave it to the professionals, not the armchair generals.

[Amelia]

Probably just to their briefs. We have womenfolk among our soldiers.

As a womanfolk, I'd rather look at a bunch of butt-ugly naked men than get blown up by a suicide bomber.

The naked men might have a problem being surveyed by a mixed crowd, however.

[teletech]

My first solution too.

Prairie

Safety first!

[George W. Bush]

I doubt any of this will happen. Let the military professionals handle it. The danger is pretty small compared to the climatic problems, NBC danger and regular combat hazards our troops will face.

[tet68]

I imagine it will be similar to what we were told in RVN.

If a combatant tries to surrender to you, and fighting is still going on, you do not have to accept his surrender.
If all fighting stops, and they surrender en mass, then
volunteers will go out and begin to disarm them.

Volunteers, yeah right.

[ConservativeMan55]

I see you liked the way I typed my messages, LOL!

[Consort]

Which messages?

[Centurion2000]

Real simple solution .... all EPW's strip and are searched .... THEN their clothes are searched and everything stripped of weapons.

If ANY prisoner resists ... shot all of them.

Precede this by a loudspeaker announcement in Arabic to prevent people from getting stupid.