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SWJED
06-09-2007, 07:12 AM
9 June Washington Post - For U.S. Unit in Baghdad, An Alliance of Last Resort (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/08/AR2007060802879.html?hpid=artslot) by Joshua Parlow.


... The week that followed revolutionized Kuehl's approach to fighting the insurgency and serves as a vivid example of a risky, and expanding, new American strategy of looking beyond the Iraqi police and army for help in controlling violent neighborhoods. The American soldiers in Amiriyah have allied themselves with dozens of Sunni militiamen who call themselves the Baghdad Patriots -- a group that American soldiers believe includes insurgents who have attacked them in the past -- in an attempt to drive out al-Qaeda in Iraq. The Americans have granted these gunmen the power of arrest, allowed the Iraqi army to supply them with ammunition, and fought alongside them in chaotic street battles.

To many American soldiers in Amiriyah, this nascent allegiance stands out as an encouraging development after months of grinding struggle. They liken the fighters to the minutemen of the American Revolution, painting them as neighbors taking the initiative to protect their families in the vacuum left by a failing Iraqi security force. In their first week of collaboration, the Baghdad Patriots and the Americans killed roughly 10 suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq members and captured 15, according to Kuehl, who said those numbers rivaled totals for the previous six months combined. He is now working to fashion the group into the beginnings of an Amiriyah police force, since the mainly Shiite police force refuses to work in the area...

Abu Buckwheat
06-09-2007, 07:25 AM
9 June Washington Post - For U.S. Unit in Baghdad, An Alliance of Last Resort (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/08/AR2007060802879.html?hpid=artslot) by Joshua Parlow.

Here we go again ... its the Fallujah Protection Brigade again! God when will we learn thats these guys ARE the insurgents? It will be all lip service and an increase of attacks and more accurate targetting by AQI on their positions. Lessons are never learned in this war are they? :rolleyes:

SWJED
06-09-2007, 07:42 AM
Here we go again ... its the Fallujah Protection Brigade again! God when will we learn thats these guys ARE the insurgents? It will be all lip service and an increase of attacks and more accurate targetting by AQI on their positions. Lessons are never learned in this war are they? :rolleyes:

I am reading John Robb's Brave New War (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471780790/104-3075668-4435162?ie=UTF8&tag=smallwarsjour-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0471780790) and just finished Part I which ends in a discussion of the pros and cons to using paramilitaries in combating an insurgency.

On the plus side Robb says we have used them successfully in Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador and to some extent Colombia to fight a combination of Communism and the drug cartels.

His three main reasons to use loyalist paramilitaries in Iraq are loyalty (tribal, ethnic and religious), rapid ramp-up (require less training than raw recruits) and effectiveness (inherent in the decentralized nature of their operations).

The downsides (in Iraq) include institutionalized corruption, human rights abuses, long-term instability (can't eradicate the insurgency and might ignite a civil war) and blowback (see Afghanistan post-Soviet).

Abu Buckwheat
06-09-2007, 12:02 PM
I am reading John Robb's Brave New War (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471780790/104-3075668-4435162?ie=UTF8&tag=smallwarsjour-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0471780790) and just finished Part I which ends in a discussion of the pros and cons to using paramilitaries in combating an insurgency.

I have yet to read Robb's book but I will send you my latest book on the insurgency's organization, strategy and tactics where I discuss the history of this very trick. There have been two major incidents where the FRLs, who constitute 82% of the insurgency have taken us for a ride with this simple tactic of playing as if they want to support our goals ... I understand their motivation but I also am very aware that they are the slickest of salesmen on the camel-lot. The FRLs have an institutional knowledge of our dealings with them in the past, they know the personalities and histories of all the Iraqi players and they know how we think and what we desire. Remember a large part of the insurgency is manned by the 30,000+ intelligence staffers of the five Saddam Intel agencies. In other words they know they have the ability to meet all of our desires and if we arm them against the Shiites they will claim to go after Al Qaeda ... then go after us and the Shiites again. There is a way to bring them about to that goal but it will take a national level discussion for economic and political reconciliation to do it. Just MHO.

Stu-6
06-09-2007, 01:49 PM
I have yet to read Robb's book but I will send you my latest book on the insurgency's organization, strategy and tactics where I discuss the history of this very trick.

Sounds intresting where does one find this book, Amazon doesn't listing any books by "Abu Buckwheat"?:D

John T. Fishel
06-09-2007, 02:25 PM
I can't speak to the specifics of the situation described in the article or to Abu Buckwheat's critique; I suspect that the ground truth will come out sooner rather than later. I, too, would be interested in Abu Buckwheat's book.

Nevertheless, two points about local self-defense forces stand out:
1. They have been used successfully in many cases - 2 which stand out are the patrullas in Guatemala and the rondas campesinas in Peru against Sendero Luminoso. One aspect of the patrullas was that they often incorporated insurgents which turned out to be an excellent mechanism for population and resource control as there were only eneough weapons for those patrulleros actually on patrol.
2. Insurgents and their supporters always want self-defense units disbanded and disarmed as part of any negotiated settlement.

So, IMO, it is a promising, if risky, tactic that is worth exploring - with much caution for all the reasons Abu Buckwheat mentions.

Jones_RE
06-09-2007, 03:15 PM
In Fallujah, the self defense force absolutely refused to work with US troops. They also refused to clean house on al Qaeda. Marines on the ground knew in advance that the Fallujah Brigade would fail and the fight would be back on, according to "No True Glory."

These Baghdad minutemen appear to be the exact opposite - fighting alongside US forces and directly challenging al Qaeda. Doesn't mean they aren't playing our side for fools to settle their own scores, but you go to war with the neighborhood militia you have not the one you want. . . .

Abu Buckwheat
06-09-2007, 04:42 PM
Sounds intresting where does one find this book, Amazon doesn't listing any books by "Abu Buckwheat"?:D


I'll wait for clearance from the mods before I devulge that on this forum but I agree that real militias are part of the solution... I am just very skeptical of this one ... is it real or is it an IO? I am sure I will find out in a couple of weeks when I head back in but I think these are just neighborhood watch groups that tend to spring up when security situation gets tight. Maybe they coopted these street by street militias? Its a good idea but it has to be street by street ... if the organized Jihadis or the professional FRL insurgents want to put a stop to it they will pay with their lives. I'm waiting to hear more ...

tequila
06-09-2007, 09:57 PM
Jane Arraf has a bit more (http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/3141/Arraf_Reports_New_Ally_Old_Enemy_in_Amiriyah) at Iraqslogger.

SWJED
06-10-2007, 03:05 AM
Sounds intresting where does one find this book, Amazon doesn't listing any books by "Abu Buckwheat"?:D

The Terrorists of Iraq: Inside the Strategy and Tactics of the Iraq Insurgency (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1419661108/104-3075668-4435162?ie=UTF8&tag=smallwarsjour-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=1419661108) by Malcolm W. Nance.

Stu-6
06-12-2007, 11:34 PM
thanks I look forward to reading it.

John T. Fishel
06-13-2007, 01:38 AM
I ordered it yesterday from Amazon. thanks:)