Now This Really Pisses Me Off:

"US soldiers driving bulldozers, with jazz blaring from loudspeakers, have uprooted ancient groves of date palms as well as orange and lemon trees in central Iraq as part of a new policy of collective punishment of farmers who do not give information about guerrillas attacking US troops."

Riverbend, a girl blogger from Baghdad with a marvellous turn of prose, vividly describes the culural significance of palm trees and other trees that can create delightful oases in the desert. She reminds us that Saddam was strongly criticized by the USA for destroying ancient marshlands to root out opponents.

"They made a sort of joke against us by playing jazz music while they were cutting down the trees," said one man.

Do these STUPID troops have any idea of the value of the vegetation they are destroying, of the hatred their actions will undoubtedly engender, or the sheer hypocrisy of their jazz-accompanied destructiveness?