Editorial: U.S. view falling on deaf ears

Wednesday, April 2, 2003 | 8:49 a.m.

From a purely tactical view, the war in Iraq is going well after two weeks of fighting. Saddam Hussein, if he's not dead already, is history. His bloody, 30-year regime is in its final moments. This war will be won. But there's a war within the war whose outcome is not so certain. It's the war for public opinion worldwide, and it's a war that we seem to be losing, badly. This is a war that could linger well beyond the final shots on the battlefields. It could affect the stature of the United States for years to come.

We suffered a blow in this war on Monday when news broke of the death of Iraqi civilians south of Baghdad, at an intersection outside the city of Najaf that is controlled by U.S. forces. For a reason not yet known, a four-wheel-drive vehicle containing 15 Iraqi civilians did not stop or even slow down, as ordered, when it approached M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles guarding the intersection. Ten of the civilians, including women and small children, were killed when soldiers in the Bradleys opened fire in accordance with the U.S. military's "rules of engagement." A report filed by a Washington Post reporter who was there raises questions about whether warning shots were fired soon enough. But there is no question about how the incident is viewed -- it's a tragedy that deeply affected the soldiers involved as well as American citizens and people around the world .

But from how many perspectives will people from other countries view this incident? That's what concerns us as many foreign news reports concentrate almost exclusively on the death of the civilians. Tragic as it was, the incident needs to be seen as well from the perspective of the soldiers guarding the checkpoint. Just two days earlier, at another checkpoint near Najaf, a suicide bomber killed four soldiers. In a war where the enemy's tactics have also included fake surrenders and attacks by people in civilian clothes, and where the fear of chemical and biological attacks is omnipresent, the perspective of the soldiers should be fully considered.

It would also help if the true perspective of American citizens and our government leaders could find its way into foreign reports. Civilian casualties are regarded as tragedies here, too. After all, that's why we're in this war -- to stop Saddam from ravaging civilian populations inside and outside of Iraq.