This Sad Replica of a Once Proud Military that Rumsfeld Left as His Legacy
U.S. Aims To Lure Insurgents With 'Bait' Snipers Describe Classified Program
By Josh White and Joshua Partlow Washington Post Staff Writers Monday, September 24, 2007; A01
A Pentagon group has encouraged some U.S. military snipers in Iraq to target suspected insurgents by scattering pieces of "bait," such as detonation cords, plastic explosives and ammunition, and then killing Iraqis who pick up the items, according to military court documents.
. . . "Baiting is putting an object out there that we know they will use, with the intention of destroying the enemy," Capt. Matthew P. Didier, the leader of an elite sniper scout platoon attached to the 1st Battalion of the 501st Infantry Regiment, said in a sworn statement. "Basically, we would put an item out there and watch it. If someone found the item, picked it up and attempted to leave with the item, we would engage the individual as I saw this as a sign they would use the item against U.S. Forces.". .
. . . Eugene Fidell, president of …