SEARCH BLOG: IRAQ
Saturday night I was talking with a woman from Iraq who has many of her family left in that nation. She mentioned a relative who was kidnapped by foreign terrorists... "those Bin Laden thugs."
She said not to trust the Iraqi government. They are corrupt; no better than the foreign thugs who are causing the problem. The government is part of the reason the U.S. military has had problems cleaning up the foreign trouble-makers.
This is about power, not religion. The actions of the bombers in killing of peaceful, innocent people has nothing to do with religion. It is for the purpose of power, using individuals who are duped into believing it is for a higher cause. She saw that this is about personal power for those in the Iraqi government, too.
I asked her what the solution was and she said the foreign thugs had to be driven out. I told her that the problem was the U.S. military could not easily determine who was a member of the community and who was a "thug" hiding among peaceful people. I ventured that at some point the people of the communities would have to fight them. She shot back, "How can my sister fight them?"
My answer was that I didn't expect her sister to take up arms, but I expected the people in the communities to cooperate with the U.S. military. Surely there must be a way to set up a network of informants who represented the communities. They would know who the outsiders were and could provide "intelligence" to the U.S. troops.
She brightened visibly. Each neighborhood has a defacto "mayor"... someone who is considered the person to address issues within their few blocks. They know who belongs and who doesn't and... if the military was discreet about the interaction... could be the eyes and ears of the U.S. in those neighborhoods. These are mostly extended families and would be very happy to get rid of the outsiders who take over houses and hold people hostage while remaining invisible to the U.S. Just don't paint targets on the backs of those who co-operate.
This is how the communities can fight back. This is how the foreign terrorists can be identified and driven out. Give the people a means to defend themselves and they will fight back.
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