.Sons of Iraq Part 4
"Part four is more my final synopsis on the whole Sons of Iraq organization. While I believe it is a good idea in theory, I believe it ultimately undermines our mission here, which is to get the Iraqi Government to stand on it's own two feet.
Enabling an armed militia to watch neighborhoods makes the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police organizations seem incompetent and takes away from their legitimacy. I do believe we should encourage Iraqi's to defend their homes and themselves from the terrorists, but forming a civilian force like this (that has ulterior motives) is a short sighted move on our behalf.
That's just my .02 cents worth though.
(To Read The Article In Full:)
Sons Of Iraq Part 1
posted by madtom at 9:47 PM
4 Comments:
Toy Soldier's series was excellent. Everyone is listening to the traditional media on the Sons of Iraq, but I'm thankful that a soldier with boots-on-ground perspective wrote about this, as it provides a lot of perspective. A truly under-rated milblogger.
"A truly under-rated milblogger."
I don't know if you've noticed, but I placed his link above yours. :)
But you are correct the ground level perspective in invaluable. though I disagree on his conclusions. Me being a democrat, do like to empower the people and grass root organizing. You'll notice from the report how Baghdad was quick to send in new leadership to replace any locals. I have called the councils "the rise of the sharecroppers" because I see them as being distinct from the usual elites that run the place, and in my opinion a necessary dissipation of power from the top. Power that if managed effectively will never retune to the elites.
Notice how none of the english speaking Iraqi bloggers, except one, will have anything to do with councils. They are a bigger threat to the ruling elites that the US occupation, or AQI.
Haha, gotta give credit where credit is due on the blogroll. But anyways, if you want to read about the Sahwa councils, Saudi-funded Al-Arabiya is always talking about them (they have an english website that's not bad). The Awakening is very important, and they are now vying for serious political power in Anbar. I never noticed that the english-speaking Iraqi bloggers don't discuss them (guess I wan't paying attention). IraqPundit, IMHO, has the sharpest insight on Iraq and he has spoken favorably of the "Sons of Iraq" when discussing the surge strategy. The next important step is to get these guys jobs doing reconstruction type work, and the Iraqi Government has talked about it, but hasn't really followed through.
"Haha, gotta give credit where credit is due"
Just a joke, there is no pecking order, just first come, first served.
You know I stopped reading arab news outlets the day I discovered the blogs. Now I only read them when they show up on my goggle news search.
Iraqi Pundit is a special case, he's obviously western educated and has never lived in Iraq. I could be wrong.
The Iraqi government fears the Councils more than anyone, They are a threat to their power and will do anything to get rid of them, they have even outlawed them in the Shi'a areas. They do not want anything to do with the dissolution of power to the people, there're still on their power trip and don't want the competition.
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