Zarqawi Targets Female Soldiers

Washington Times – Zarqawi targets female soldiers

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.

Lovely. Equal opportunity terrorists.

FILED UNDER: Terrorism, , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. paladin says:

    I hope the ladies are all packing heat, no matter what their job description.

  2. Hal says:

    I, for one, am supremely glad his nibs didn’t take out Zarqawi when he had the chance – despite repeated plans to do so. Rather than undermine the case for the war, Bush took the long view and decided that keeping him alive was a much better strategy. Now we have a wonderful boogeyman we can all get fired up about as well as endless posts about how horrible these guys are and oooohhhh aren’t they nasty people.

    Just think, if it wasn’t for Bush, we wouldn’t be having these opportunities.

  3. Eric Akawie says:

    Actually, wouldn’t this be Affirmative Action Terrorism?

  4. Hal says:

    Hmmm, hadn’t thought of that. Kind of a compasionate conservativism, no terrorist left behind kind of thing.

  5. JW says:

    Please don’t sicken me further, Hal. There can only be two reasons for this campaign to kidnap a female Coalition worker–one is another televised beheading, only this time of a woman, and the other is a televised rape, followed by a beheading. I find neither prospect worthy of a sarcastic jibe from anyone.

  6. Mike says:

    If he thinks this will crush America’s spirit he is delusional. Well, more delusional than normal.

    Man, the jihadis really Do Not understand America, do they?

  7. tee bee says:

    the revelation that the terrorists descending on Iraq have targeted women for special displays of horror shouldn’t surprise me, but the chill and the twist in my gut testify to the nature of evil — it shocks and apalls average people like me. while Hal mocks.

    no, it isn’t only the radical islamofascists who revel in destruction; they are joined by their anarcholeftist brethren everywhere. just like those in America who supported Hitler before and during WWII.

  8. Jeff says:

    Much like Nick Berg’s father, Hal seems content to let terrorist actions turn him against civilization. The terrorists are killing people, and contrary to insane leftist beliefs, not with Bush’s blessings or forebearance.

    How partisan has this country become that the first person to receive blame when a terrorist attacks and kills is the person in the White House?

  9. Attila Girl says:

    We are just as tough as you are. There is nothing worse than beheading with the kind of dull knives these guys use, whether you’re a man or a woman.

    When it happens to one of us, just fight harder, as you would if it were a man.