Not Losing In Iraq--First Step

Get a grip on this. In Iraq we, the self-proclaimed good guys, are the occupiers. Not the liberators. The occupiers.

Get a grip on this. No one, but no one likes occupiers. People don't even like liberators--if they stay around too long.

Get a grip on this. There is no way in the real world that people can be convinced to like occupiers.

If we are not going to lose, the very first challenge is convincing more Iraqis to dislike us less.

That's right, dislike us less. Not love us. Not even like us. Just dislike us less.

That's what makes the job at all possible. We don't need all or even most or even very many Iraqis to like us and our presence in their country. We merely need more of them, perhaps only a plurality of the population to dislike us a bit less.

Why?

Two reasons.

First, and more importantly, so that the average person will see that he or she has a real, direct and immediate stake in enhancing internal stability and decreasing violence. A stake that goes beyond the immediate, compelling desire not to be killed or injured. A stake in an Iraqi future. Not an American view of the future. No. An Iraqi view of a collective Iraqi tomorrow.

Secondly, we need the cooperation, the full and voluntary assistance, of the Iraqi in the street. The person on the ground is the best, often the only, source of critical information. As any experienced cop can testify, a snitch is good. Two snitches are better. And so on.

Beyond information no matter how critical, it is the attitude of the individual and his or her family regarding the occupier that is the terrain on which the counter insurgent war is fought. The much derided Vietnam era phrase, "winning the hearts and minds," is absolutely true.

Only by positively affecting the perceptions and attitudes of the individual Iraqi can our presence be redefined from "occupier" to "peacemaker" and "peacekeeper." Only by changing the perceptions and attitudes of the individual Iraqi can our presence be seen by more than a minuscule few as something that will assist in bringing a better future into existence.

Fine words, fine ideas, sanctioned by history, but so what? The words are easy to write or say. The lessons of history are there, easy to understand. Still, without being able to put them into real world effect, they remain lifeless, useless.

How must we change what we're doing in Iraq to give vitality to these words and the lessons of two successful counter insurgent wars in the Philippines, as well as the defeat in Vietnam.
At the very top of the list is stop waging war on the uncommitted majority. The majority of any population in a violence ridden environment simply want to be left out of the crossfire. The uncommitted majority support neither the insurgents nor the occupiers and the government it backs.

Iraq Slogger today http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/2995/Uninvited_Guests_US_Soldiers_in_Iraqi_Homes
reports on the kind of annoyance, which no matter how it may be spun by local commanders or Pentagon spokespersons turns members of the uncommitted majority into active or passive supporters of the insurgents. Kicking in doors, rousting people from their homes, tossing the home in a search for weapons, or suspects or whatever else is guaranteed to brand US forces as the "Occupier."

We must not wear that brand. Unless we want to lose.

Even worse than the kicking in of doors, the pounding of American boots on Iraqi stairs is the destruction of civilian homes and the killing or injuring of civilians, members of the uncommitted majority. A minor example was reported today. It's also from Iraq Slogger. http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/2990

It was a minor incident. Not the kind the MSM would even notice. US fighter-bombers hit targets in a residential area of Mosul injuring four.

Imagine the effect on those injured. Their relatives. Those who watched the attack from nearby. Those who hear about it. Watch it on TV. Imagine the propaganda handed to the insurgents.

Is this the kind of future any Iraqi would hope for? The jets screaming down. The explosions. The silence as the dust rises. The low cries or loud shrieks of the wounded. Is this the future you would want?

When the boot kicks in the door or when the bombs hit your house or the house next door, who do you blame? The insurgents? Or those whose feet kicked and fingers triggered? The fellow Iraqi or the Occupier?

Second guess doesn't count.

Stop waging war on the uncommitted majority. That's the beginning. That's the first baby step toward changing perceptions and attitudes. That's the first necessary small move in converting ourselves from Occupier to something less self-defeating.

There are more steps. Bigger steps. Perhaps harder steps.

"Like what?" You ask.

Like don't wage war on women. Get the women on our side and the future will surely follow. Next from the History Geek.