Hug an insurgent: US’s new plan to win in Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2272066,00.html

THE US army has turned years of conventional military thinking on its head in a new field manual for soldiers on counter-insurgency operations in Iraq.

The manual, the first for 20 years, emphasises that it is far more important to secure moral legitimacy and the support of the community than to kill insurgents and win battles.

It has been drawn up by General David Petraeus, who is known as one of America’s more culturally sensitive commanders. He led the 101st Airborne Division, the Screaming Eagles, into Iraq and set up training for the Iraqi forces before returning to the US last year to head the army staff college at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

The manual’s conclusions are stark. “Lose moral legitimacy, lose the war,” it warns. In what could prove to be uncomfortable reading for Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, it emphasises that “efforts to build a legitimate government through illegitimate action — including unjustified or excessive use of force, unlawful detention, torture or punishment without trial — are self-defeating, even against insurgents who conceal themselves amid non-combatants”.

[Selatius]

1. With all due respect, this manual came too late for the people of Haditha

It has come too late for the 100,000+ dead Iraqi civilians.

Gen. Patraeus' efforts are far too little, far too late.

[Erika]

2. So they are going to be handing out cookies & Gideon Bibles?

We had no moral reason to be there. It was all based on lies. Our treatment of detainees who we shipped to other lands is horrid. But now, it's cookie and kumbaya time?

[jobycom]

3. I... just...

want to scream! What the fuck do they think they are doing? If it's down to that, why are we even there?

[Mojorabbit]

4. It's a start and a thumb up Rummy's nose by the military

and I am glad to see it. Still I think in the real world it will end up somewhere inbetween the two points.