Retired Insurgents

[Abu Buckwheat]

Your battle with the resistance is a battle to the end, they will remain steadfast. Money won't save you. They fight for their nations dignity and freedom in the real sense. To suggest you can put a price on that or on peoples lives, is an insult.

-Victory or Martyrdom.

Well I have met the resistance. I have fought them, talked to them in captivity and inadvertently knew a few on the street ... I have been immersed in Islamic culture for 26 years and Iraq's for the last four. I will tell you something that will surprise many people ... these are men. There is no difference between the insurgent and us ... I am leaving AQI out of this equation because they are not the resistance. The Iraqis we are fighting are men with families, dreams aspirations, hopes and dispairs. We completely forget and ignore that. They love their country and the dreams for the future ... but nothing, and I mean nothing, motivates them as much as their love for their children. This war can come down to giving them a chance to have that future, not a cheap flat in Damascus or Amman, in Iraq doing whatever makes them prosperous. Given hope they will eventually stop. For the Salafist Jihadis, thats another kettle of fish, they can be accommodated as well but the surpise will come when they are stopped by the other Iraqi resistance groups.

They do not accept bribery, with money or power, because neither of those things is what they are fighting for.

Well obviously you haven't been to Iraq or the rest of the world! Dir Balek (look out), Baksheesh (tip), lillShai (for tea), un petit bois (a little drink) is a way of life ... before, during and after the Baathists. Nothing gets done without ensuring their day will be a little brighter ... I have no problem with that so long as its minor. Now the Ministry of Defense stealing a Billion dollars intended for armor vehicles... that was just graft.