[lbo-talk] TLF's Iraq cure: hair of dog that bit you

Jordan Hayes jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com
Fri Mar 31 15:51:55 PST 2006


Jim Devine writes:


> The military _can_ do law & order.

Not very well, and not for very long. The big issue is that "policing" is 90% problem-solving and psychology (in the worst case; in the best case, it's more like 99.44%) and 10% badge+gun. The training for boots-on-the-ground is (and sorta has to be, if you think about it): shoot when told, stop shooting when told. If you re-train a soldier to be a police officer, you have to forget about using them as infantry later. It's a one-way trip.

Policing is the act of continuously asking: how can we solve this problem without me pulling out my gun.

/jordan



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