A West Bank of their very own

More on the latest US tactics in Iraq:

As the guerrilla war against Iraqi insurgents intensifies, American soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire.

In selective cases, American soldiers are demolishing buildings thought to be used by Iraqi attackers. They have begun imprisoning the relatives of suspected guerrillas, in hopes of pressing the insurgents to turn themselves in.

In plain English, that's collective punishment and hostage-taking, tactics used by Israel in the West Bank, and outlawed by the Geneva Conventions.

It's not just wrong, it's also stupid. Short of Viceroy Bremer going on TV to spit on the Koran and wipe his arse with the Iraqi flag, I can think of no better way to lose the battle for hearts and minds than to behave like the Israelis. Treating Iraqis like the Palestinians will simply drive more people to terrorism and fundamentalism... the exact opposite of what the US claims it is trying to achive.