The void between American and UK soldiers

Published on Monday 31 March 2003 01:00

DURING the Vietnam war, a popular response to the mantra of winning over the civilian population was "grab them by the balls, and their hearts and minds will follow". It is not a tactic, however, employed by British forces and the difference in approach is apparently leading to tension among troops.

US forces who took the port of Umm Qasr did little to win "hearts and minds" among Iraqis and some British troops now charged with setting up a transitional authority complain they are having to undo damage.

One British officer being given an escort by marines to his headquarters expressed alarm when US soldiers let loose with a volley of rifle fire at a house on the outskirts of the town.

"They said they had been sniped at from there a few days ago so they like to give them a warning every now and then," he said. "That is something we would never condone. You really aren’t going to make any friends doing that."

A US special forces officer in Umm Qasr admitted it was sometimes difficult to contain the exuberance of men doing the fighting. They could overstep the mark, he said.

"You got to realise these guys are single-minded in their training. In the military it is look after yourself and your buddies - full stop.

"How do we know who the enemy is? Are the invading forces against Iraq or just the regime? Some of my guys have difficulty telling the difference."

He added: "The average grunt [soldier] is no more or less educated than the average citizen and some of them don’t know what is going on over here. But we are doing the main fighting here. There is no room for us to let down our guard."

Military analyst Stuart Crawford said the difference in attitude was a question of training. "Man for man, British soldiers are better trained and better disciplined," said Mr Crawford, a retired lieutenant colonel in the 4th Royal Tank Regiment, who served in the 1991 Gulf war.

"The British have a long history of colonialism and so of dealing with people of different races, and many soldiers have their experience of Northern Ireland to back them. I’ve worked with Americans and I like them, but there is little history of dealing with civilian population in the same way. At times, American warfare can be characterised by an overwhelming arrogance both militarily and in their culture. They assume that everyone wants to be an American."

The Americans are faced with further difficulties. The southern Shiites also remember how the United States urged them in 1991 to rise up against Saddam’s largely Sunni leadership only to abandon them to brutal suppression of their revolt.

A regular complaint heard in the vast swathe of southern Iraq already under occupation is that US forces - mostly at the front of advances through the country - is that they are rude and hostile to civilians caught up in the conflict.

"Are they fighting us or are they fighting Saddam?" asked Iraqi teacher Mohammed Salik when questioned on what he thought of the US servicemen he had encountered.