[lbo-talk] A new turn in US military strategy in Iraq?

Marvin Gandall marvgandall at rogers.com
Tue May 24 20:13:11 PDT 2005


Carroll Cox wrote:


> Marvin Gandall wrote:
>>
>> A report in the Asia Times asserts that the US is abandoning its effort
>> to
>> build a conventional army in Iraq in favour of irregular militas
>> operating
>> under direct US command against the anti-occupation resistance.
>
> One possibility. This could be a euphemism for something like the
> Phoenix program in Vietnam, and "irregular militia" a euphemism for
> Death Squads.
>
> Mere speculation. But something like this is what it takes to quell a
> serious resistance. Kill everyone who seems a bit smarter than those
> around him/her.
>
> Carrol
------------------------ That's true. I recall reading recently, forget where, that there are already death squads operating, possibly linked to Allawi's militia, the thug whom the US favours above the pro-Iranian Dawa and SCIRI politicians and who, you'll recall, it wanted to install as the new Iraqi strongman. Death squads usually aim at picking off the political and military leaders of an insurgency. The report suggests the US wants to use larger forces - notably the SCIRI's Badr militia and the peshmerga, who are the most reliable government troops - to patrol rebellious areas and to engage the guerrilla units, as I think happened in Fallujah. They won't be wearing kid gloves either on their sweeps into the towns and countryside to obtain information - so the resistance could grow further as a result of this kind of rough handling. I can't remember whether the Phoenix program was just set up to "eliminate" NLF local leaders, or whether it was also responsible for herding the Vietnamese peasantry into concentration camps called "protected villages". There's a consistent pattern to insurgency and counter-insurgency, isn't there? There was a terrific movie by Gillo Pontecorvo in the 70s called Burn, starring Marlon Brando, which explored this subject. Was as good, IMO, as Battle of Algiers, which has had a longer shelf life.

M



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