I'll take decisions that confuse me for a $100 Alex

[Ron Humphrey]

Could someone explain why this is a good decision or at least makes sense in being more beneficial than it is problematic?

From todays roundup-

The US military has barred Iraqi interpreters working with American troops in Baghdad from wearing ski masks to disguise themselves, prompting some to resign and others to bare their faces even though they fear it could get them killed.

[Cavguy]

Could someone explain why this is a good decision or at least makes sense in being more beneficial than it is problematic?

From todays roundup-

Yeah, I thought it was not worth the effort and frustration it will entail, burning bridges with terps, and just plain ill-advised.

Hope it doesn't cost us some good terps. Good ones are hard to come by.

[Tom Odom]

It is classically bad IO

A friend of mine offered a blog piece on it today

Monday, November 17, 2008
Masks: A PSYACT Themselves

Having discussed interpreters in the previous post, let me turn my attention to the issues of masks themselves. The quote below reminds me of a 1929 line from then Secretary of State Henry Stimson, “Gentlemen don’t read other people’s mail.”

[jkm_101_fso]

I can't imagine what idiot came up with this rule.

I am willing to bet it has something to do with the same leaders that love PT Belts in the chow hall.

Found this quote in the Chicago Tribune today:

"We are a professional Army, and professional units don't conceal their identity by wearing masks," Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a U.S. military spokesman.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...,4707457.story

Wow. I'm speechless at our stupidity.

[reed11b]

This is just another sad chapter in the on-going failure of the military to protect it's Iraqi resources. We should absolutly be offering amnisty to Iraqi's that have endangered there life to help us, even if it is on a temporary basis. We should also facilitate any other options that will allow them to feel safe as possible.
Reed

[Ken White]

know why my hair is so gray. 50 year of idiocy, that's why -- and it's getting worse instead of better...

I feel sorry for that poor LTC spokesperson -- he had to say that with a straight face...

Nuts. I mean the ones in Baghdad (or Tampa -- that sounds like some of their idiocy...)

[Schmedlap]

We are a professional Army, and professional units don't conceal their identity by wearing masks," Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a U.S. military spokesman.

The mindset embodied in that message - the belief that you can just declare something to be "what a professional force does" and then have others embrace it due to your flawless reasoning - never ceased to mystify me. Without any explanation as to why such a claim is valid, or inquiry into whether it is true, or thought as to whether it makes any sense, it is just supposed to be accepted and become standard procedure.

[reed11b]

It is classically bad IO

A friend of mine offered a blog piece on it today

Good blog find, I bookmarked it.
Reed

[Entropy]

We are a professional Army, and professional units don't conceal their identity by wearing masks," Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a U.S. military spokesman.

The good LTC might have a point if the terps were members of our "professional Army."

[MikeF]

that the remaining terps are the ones that actually work for different insurgent groups as intelligence collectors. Guess what- the counter-intelligence folks will always be those that speak the best english and have a smile on their face....

Wow...I'm speechless so I'm gonna quit typing and go back to my hole.

Amazing, the moment I start to believe we're getting smarter and actually "maturing" as GEN Casey believes, I'm brought back to reality.

Honestly, this is worse than Boston trading Babe Ruth.

v/r

Mike

[Granite_State]

From George Packer's blog:

Standing on a principle in the shape of a land mine, the U.S. military has banned Iraqi interpreters from wearing face masks. “We are a professional Army and professional units don’t conceal their identity by wearing masks,” Lieutenant Colonel Steve Stover, a military spokesman, wrote in an e-mail to the Post, whose account continued: “He expressed appreciation for the service and sacrifice of the interpreters but said those dissatisfied with the new policy ‘can seek alternative employment.’” LTC Stover was pleased to report that the contractor that hires interpreters is having no trouble meeting its quota.

I’m sorry, LTC Stover, but this is stupidity and callousness posing as rectitude. For years, Iraqis working with American units were allowed to hide their faces so that they could keep their heads on their necks. The new order has already led to firings and a significant number of resignations, as well as desperate measures—one interpreter smearing his face with mascara, another hoping that a new beard will keep his identity secret. This is the kind of order that headquarters dreams up and combat troops detest.

Exactly what code of conduct is being maintained here? Iraqis aren’t in the American chain of command. They don’t take an oath; they don’t fall under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. If they did, they would be given regulation uniforms. They wouldn’t be allowed to use aliases. They would be housed on bases rather than obliged to make the dangerous trip home every night. They would receive pensions, health insurance, and death benefits. When one of them gets killed, the military would hold a ceremony. The widow would receive a flag. A grateful nation would remember.

I’m guessing that the military has decided face masks are off message: the surge worked, so the “terps”—the most vulnerable targets in Iraq, and among the most prized—are safe. They’re not, and they never will be, which is why the State Department has finally begun to improve efforts to repatriate our Iraqi allies here. Meanwhile, the Pentagon suddenly seems determined to get them killed or laid-off back in Iraq—just when we were learning how to do things right.

This is a worrying sign, and not just for the interpreters. It suggests that as the U.S. pulls out of the neighborhoods and cities next year, as required by the new security agreement just approved by Iraq’s cabinet, the military and the Obama Administration will be tempted to conceal a situation that might well be rapidly deteriorating. Face masks save interpreters’ lives, but as a form of strategic communications during wartime they get people killed.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/georgepacker/