U.S. Marines Work To Befriend Iraqis

[sabra]

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/topstories_story_345135325.html

U.S. Marines Work To Befriend Iraqis

(AP) HALABASA, Iraq U.S. Marines roll through this Euphrates River town handing out chocolates, backpacks, coloring books and sometimes even AK-47s, hoping to glean goodwill and tips from residents.
Efforts to befriend Iraqis are far from new, but they have become even more important, U.S. military leaders say, as troops battle well-armed and well-financed insurgents who roam much of Anbar province.

Many in Washington, America’s allies and much of the U.S. public may feel that tactics like these haven’t achieved much, but the Marines here are far more optimistic about their work and say they have brought a measure of peace to this corner of Iraq.

“They’re happy to see us when we come here,” said Lt. Col. Todd S. Desgrosseilliers, who greeted residents on a recent patrol with a stogie between his teeth and two grenades strapped to his chest. “They aren’t insurgents, they’re just people.”

...

“If you gain their trust, people will tell you who the outsiders are, or where they might have planted an explosive,” said Jeffrey D. Brown, commander of an outpost near Halabsa. “This kind of support from the population did not occur in Vietnam,” he said.

[Robbien]

1. Armed soldiers come to your bombed out town, what does a smart man do?

Spit at them?

Of course not. One smiles and takes the chocolate (and AK 47's). The US invaders have just made a friend.

Ha!

[rocktivity]

2. Why not try handing out electricty, jobs, and cheap gas

and then LEAVING???? Can't you see that the REAL problem is that you can't TELL the "just people" from the insurgents anymore?

:crazy:
rocknation

[lyonn]

3. What a bs story this is, who is the reporter?

Bet any resident there would love to have a couple of days without fear of going and doing things that people in other depressed countries can do. Other than Darfur, what other country is unable to go to school, work, markets, etc. without real fear of not returning on a daily basis? Chocolates, etc., you gotta be kidding. Wonder who they decide gets an AK-47?

[Bigmack]

4. Just like Vietnam....

... the "Combined Action Patrol". Or even the "Medical/Combined Action Patrol."

Making friends... and providing targets for hostiles... everywhere we go.

Shit, they're just gonna call in an airstrike on the poor bastards later, anyhow. Why not skip the pretense?

It's not that the troops themselves are evil, but the nature of anti-insurgency warfare just makes the net outcome a bad one.