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May 23, 2004
   
Some American troops in Iraq have found a way to protect themselves from ambush; drive civilian vehicles. SUVs (especially white ones) and pickup trucks are very popular with Iraqi civilians. Some Military Intelligence troops obtained civilian vehicles and used them for patrols and missions. The hummers not only stand out visually, but are noisier than civilian vehicles. Hostile Iraqis can hear, and see, the hummers a long way off, and prepare an ambush. This rarely happened when the troops were driving the SUVs. The Iraqis do not like to get too close when they open fire, so by the time the GI driven SUVs were close enough for Iraqis to see the troops, the vehicles were too close for the Iraqis to attack them. Thus the soldiers in SUVs were attacked much less often than those using hummers.