[ccwilli3]

Note the last few sentences from the troops.

I love it!

London Daily Telegraph
November 8, 2004
'Cash On The Spot–If They Tell Us Where The Weapons Are'
By Toby Harnden, near Fallujah
When Capt Kirk Mayfield of the US army goes into battle he will have Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and sniper teams at his disposal. But one of his most important instruments of war will be in his back pocket – a thick wad of dollar bills.
"I'm going to get five grand," he told his platoon commanders at one of their final briefings yesterday. "If they tell us where the weapons caches are, where the IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and the bad guys are, we'll give them cash on the spot." Capt Mayfield, commander of Phantom troop of the 2-2 Task Force, emphasised that intelligence gathered on the battlefield could not only save the lives of American soldiers but also lay the foundations for stabilising the city after victory had been secured.
"How much do we give them?" asked a lieutenant. "50 bucks? 100 bucks?" Capt Mayfield said $50 was probably appropriate depending on the quality of the information - but the Iraqi would first have to lead the troops to what they wanted.
Standing by a tent in front of a large aerial photograph of a sector of the city taken from an unmanned drone, Capt Mayfield pointed out mosques and schools on a "no strike list" of 217 places in Fallujah that must be spared.
One member of his troop was Sgt Kimberly Snow, a "combat camera" photographer whose job was to record what happened in the battle to prevent the insurgents later boosting their cause with propaganda. "If they're firing out of a mosque or a hospital I don't care where she is, bring Sgt Snow forward. So when we level that thing, we have pictures to show they were using it as a bad place," said Capt Mayfield. He urged his men to play close attention to where they were firing. "God forbid I don't need to blow up a mosque and somebody yells about it," he said.
Lt-Col Pete Newell told Task Force 2-2's 500 soldiers at a dusty staging post in the main base outside Fallujah that sparing as much of the city as possible was second only to that of preserving the lives of their comrades and the 40,000 or so civilians still left.
"We don't want to rubble the city. Somebody has got to come in after us. We want Fallujah to understand what democracy's all about.'' But he added: "That doesn't mean you have to tolerate any **** from second-floor windows." The battle would be "personal" because of the losses the unit had already sustained. "That pile of crap has got to be cleaned out," he said as troops responded with cries of "Hoo-ah".
Maximum aggression had to be used. "Keep hammering targets and if you see a guy with an AK-47, I expect you to hose him with a.50 calibre machine-gun.'' If firing was identified from a house, then artillery fire should be called in to "pancake the building". Moving vehicles should be destroyed as potential suicide bombs and stationary ones hit with armour-piercing rounds. "See if it blows up or not. We'll pay everyone for their cars later." Maj John Reynolds, the task force operations officer, said money would also be paid out for any civilians killed.
Such payments, of up to $2,500, may seem callous but were readily accepted by Iraqis who had a different cultural view of death. "Our experience is that when we've done that, families have come back and said that no one ever said they were sorry before.''
Lt Col Newell ended his rousing speech by saying the fight would be tough but an enemy that didn't "give a rat's ass about civilians, morals or the ethics of war" deserved to die.

[bubba]

make that photographer earn her pay

[aussie_929]

No wonder the US is so popular around the world at the moment..... You can thank your idiot of a President for that.

And no I'm not anti-American but Bush has given the rest of the world a reason to be. I am just amazed that he has been voted back in again....