How's that for an ironic twist in the propoganda war, when anti-US forces are accused of acting like nazis? Actions speak louder than words and phamplets and jingoism. In the marginally secure areas of Iraq outside Baghdad, I would put people to work cleaning up rubble and doing other manual labor type work, said projects to be run totally by the US military - recruited, supervised and paid by the CAP unit with operational responsibility in the area. Some historians claim the CCCs (civilian conservation corps) and the WPA (work projects administration) implemented in the 1930s during the great depression were nothing more than stop-gaps for staving off revolution, considering the extremely high unemployment rates in the nation at the time. My father was in the CCCs and the camp he was in was run by an Army Cpt. It can be done again. You've got essentially 3rd world muslim peasants that are hard pressed financially with no decent jobs and they damn sure aren't going to put their faith in any fancy words coming from the Americans or their own government. At the specific, troop level implementation of IO, a number of things can be done and it centers on direct contact, interaction with the people where actions speak louder than words. When shaking hands with Iraqis, quit squeezing their hands in the typical American fashion. A strong grip from a strange infidel essetially is a gesture of control and domination. You give them your hand in a gesture of friendship, the ol' dead fish handshake, you don't take control of their hand. Whenever speaking with them, look at their moving lips and quit staring into their eyes. Locking onto eyes as WE usually do signifies possible doubt and suspicion to most 3rd worlders. When conversing, get on their level always. Don't stand looking down at them. If they are sitting, squat down and remove the helmet if it's safe to do so and remove sunglasses too. Defer to the oldest male if possible and totally ignore all females and any interaction with them unless they are in some official capacity. Lastly, quite fooling around and playing with the kids, quit making pets of them and giving them anything and playing soccer with them, etc. How would you feel if some extremely powerful, totally strange and alien force came into your neighborhood, set up camp then mostly interacted with your children? Spend time with the adults, not the kids. I know troops have a soft spot in their hearts for kids and it gives them some interaction with innocence and purity in a brutal environment but it is doing no good, not in a 3rd world muslim environment. We are compulsive talkers and we think we need to be able to speak in order to be a friend and do some visiting with somebody and that probably inhibits simply being in the presence of people whom we can't communicate with. Simply being with them is giving of yourself to them. Spend time with the adults when possible, even if you can't communicate. It shows you are not afraid of them and want to be with them. I'll never forget the time I was at my friend Alfred's house. He is a traditonal Metis Indian and he was excited because his Uncle Tony was coming for a visit. Then Alfred said the strangest thing, he said, " He (uncle Tony) never says a word."

In afghan, buy the opium from the farmers directly and burn it, with the troops upwind of course from the burn site. Why would it matter to any dirt farmer who buys his opium at a fair market price? What is the mark-up percentage from the dirt farmer to the street? 20,000%? It's probably more. Talk about doing the world some good and if you want to find out who your real enemies are in Afghan, implement this civil affairs tactic.