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Rethinking Iraq strategy

Reader comment on item: Iraq: "Could a New Strongman Help?"

Submitted by Dennis (Canada), Nov 13, 2006 at 13:37

Another excellent piece of advice, Daniel.

I was reminded about how foolish American policy is in Iraq while watching "War Diary" on the military channel the other night. In one segment, American troops were fired on by an Iraqi civilian whom they quickly caught and disarmed. After discovering a huge weapons cache in his house, they turned him over to the Iraqi police.

Given what I know about the Iraqi police, there's a good chance he would have been back on the street shortly thereafter.

Had this event occurred in World War Two, the perpetrator would have put before a military tribunal and executed. If capital punishment is not going to be an option, the gunman should at least have been put in a U.S. administered POW camp for as long as U.S. troops are in the country.

I have no doubt you've seen the famous video of the KBR contractor whose convoy is ambushed. He has to watch helplessly as the truck driver ahead of him is executed by insurgents. He is helpless in large part because KBR prohibits its employees from carrying weapons. Since the insurgents know this, they of course create tactics to get between civilian contractors and the military forces that are supposed to protect them, and then move in to eliminate the defenseless target. These two incidents have reinforced in my mind the insane rules of engagement that are key U.S. policy in Iraq. They make U.S. and supporting forces far more vulnerable to being killed than would otherwise be the case if we had rules that fitted the context of the Iraqi insurgency.

I'm not suggesting that U.S. troops be permitted to kill anything that moves in Iraq, but that their ability to respond to threats and the people who perpetrate them has to become more flexible if U.S. forces are going to prevail.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (17) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
creeping vines [1160 words]cassanoJan 6, 2007 23:2271923
Voltaire On Iraq [27 words]G.GlazerNov 26, 2006 23:4067439
No contradiction [37 words]OctavioNov 27, 2006 14:2067439
Get out of Iraq ASAP [19 words]OctavioNov 25, 2006 16:3167330
Strongman [180 words]Mitzi AlvinNov 24, 2006 15:0267195
Allawi?!! Been there done that. [116 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Francis BrookeNov 24, 2006 11:3367174
"Could a New Strongman Help?" [198 words]Johanna StephensNov 24, 2006 10:3967163
Perfection [83 words]Julian ZedNov 24, 2006 10:1967160
Why didn't Iraqis vote for Allawi? [34 words]Roger McKinneyNov 22, 2006 11:4766970
It's all about the Middle East [77 words]Mike GNov 18, 2006 08:0466491
Democracy and Iraq [388 words]VinodguptNov 16, 2006 14:5066339
Dodge City [184 words]JoeNov 16, 2006 14:4466337
Democracy? That is too optimistic [365 words]mike bitNov 15, 2006 21:5366267
Rethinking Iraq strategy [310 words]DennisNov 13, 2006 13:3766006
Power Share Will Resolve Conflict In Iraq [78 words]skmillerNov 13, 2006 10:5765990
How about a little responsibility... ? [29 words]MikeNov 13, 2006 03:3865972
iraq [336 words]robert fusfeldNov 12, 2006 11:1265918

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