Quote Originally Posted by 120mm View Post
I think the trick is to get as many "current" insurgents to come work for our side. I have reason to believe that in both Afghanistan and Iraq, we are attempting and sometimes succeeding at doing just that.

This is not a bad strategy, except that its being handled in sort of a clumsy way.

Its a common misperception that every insurgent is a Jihadi and will never surrender or stop his actions ... religious extremist insurgents comprise only 15-17% of the insurgency (AQI is just 2-5%) ... the Mujhideen Central Command (which is better translated as the Unified Mujahideen Command) are actually the Baathists FRLs ... they couldn't care less about Islam, even though they are Moslems who use the Rhetoric of the Islamists, they aren't fanatics - yet they account for 83-85% of the daily attacks.

In fact with the right amount of money the FRLs could be bought, but it will take huge concessions on the oil pipeline through to Syria and a ruthless crackdown on the Shiite Militias before that could even be brought to the table. Most Sunni AIFs just want a life and air conditioning for their kids ... with the right incentives they could be a force to rid us of AQI.
Just a thought.