Techniques for securing and building relations with the people...
The purpose of this thread is to evaluate a possible technique for securing the people. I’d greatly appreciate everyone’s input concerning whether moving in with a family for a day or two in an effort to both provide security for the people while simultaneously overwatching known insurgent ambush/cache/meeting locations is a wise technique? This technique was initially addressed a few months ago here: http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=2159. I’d like to dig deeper into this subject because I’ve interviewed multiple Marines that believe they had success in using a version of this technique.
My initial thoughts were that it’s not wise or tactically (strategically?) sound to use a family’s house because I wouldn’t be too pleased if a foreign army or the base MPs did the same in my house. But based on the Marines’ feedback and this NY Times video report: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html...E/blocker.html (Click on the icon “politics”), I’m not so sure. A large part of me believes that the endstate of this squad's mission was a better understanding of the Iraqi people, the Iraqis more willing to share information with us, and the Iraqis having a better understanding of the "No Better Friend" side of what we're all about. I don’t think it really matters that the squad didn't have the opportunity to directly engage the enemy. Simply executing the mission does multiple things for us. First, if the enemy knows that we're using family's homes, he's now got to figure out which homes, when, for how long, where, did the family tell us anything?, etc--this puts us in his OODA loop and forces him to accept the fact that we'll use just about anywhere to observe and kill him, not just irrigation ditches, abandoned buildings and/or palm groves. Second, and probably most important, if the Marines/Soldiers—“strategic corporals”—understand their mission and are culturally sensitive and respectful to the family, this technique provides a way to build a rapport with the people. This is a critical piece in the COIN fight and one that we've very much been missing. And I also like to think that it's much harder for an Iraqi to want to kill us or to sympathize with those that might want to kill us after we shake someone's hand, address them by name, and, in general, just spend some time getting to know them.
I see a few possible dangers in employing this technique. The first is that we could ultimately end up pissing off a lot of families. Second, how do we respond if, after we leave the house, the enemy kills the family? While part of me thinks the enemy will ultimately pay the price for such brutal tactics (as we’re beginning to see today) another part of me thinks we’d be blamed for putting the family in this situation. Third, what do we do if/when the enemy uses our actions in its propaganda efforts (i.e., possibly putting up fliers saying that we're evil and that we kidnap, torture, rape, etc, creating a video saying much the same and putting it on the internet)? I’m not sure how this enemy counter would work in a tribal culture, where close relations within the tribe will likely reveal the truth, especially if we constantly interact with families all over our AOs (i.e., the leaders of the tribe will most likely ask the families if the propaganda is true and if we constantly show that we're "No Better Friend" then our actions will speak for themselves, at least to the local people). Maybe this technique is only viable in strong tribal areas and not in the cities?
Looking forward to learning from you all. Semper Fi!
working and living with "the people"
Your's is a very interesting post Maximus. I've been in those Marine's place, living among the people but it was several decades ago and I can only relate to that time and place, not Iraq.
We found that if we treated the people respectfully, they would reciprocate. There the local people did not have to worry about being killed or mistreated by the VC because the VC were their own family members, neighbors and friends and which I know now, having visited many times post war, that the majority of these rural peasants, at least where I was, supported the VC. To them it had nothing to do with communism. The simply wanted the foreigners to leave their country. They wanted to live in peace.
By treating us respectfully I mean playing around with the kids, having dinner with a local family, sharing tea with them, sharing C rats with them, etc. But then when we weren't looking the kids would steal our grenades.
One must understand the human factor. One can be respected or even truly liked as a friend and still as a representative of a foreign military occupation they would rather you not be there.
A friend who was in a similar unit went back to one of his former villages and when he found the former "kid" of his "adopted family" he was a government official. His family had been VC and had a tunnel entrance in the hooch they lived in. When my astounded friend asked them "... then why didn't you kill me?" The young village official replied "Because you were kind to our family".
I came to find out they my adopted family was the same. When I visited the then very elderly lady, the mother of that family from 1969, she still referred to me as "con" (her son).
For people who have been resisting foreign invaders and occupiers for centuries, there are no tactics that are going to win their heart of hearts.
