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Open: DP's World (Dave Does D.C.)

by rba

Wed Apr 25, 2007 at 01:14:12 PM EST

"Counterinsurgency strategies must also include, above all, efforts to establish a political environment that helps reduce support for the insurgents and undermines the attraction of whatever ideology they may espouse. In certain Sunni Arab regions of Iraq, establishing such a political environment is likely of greater importance than military operations, since the right political initiatives might undermine the sanctuary and assistance provided to the insurgents."

Source: Learning Counterinsurgency: Observations from Soldiering in Iraq [.pdf], Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, MILITARY REVIEW, January-February 2006. Submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee at his confirmation hearing on 23 January 2007.

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Open: DP's World (Dave Does D.C.) | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)

Curious little snippet (5.00 / 2) (#1)

Page 10:

Setting the right tone ethically is another hugely important task. If leaders fail to get this right, winking at the mistreatment of detainees or at manhandling of citizens, for example, the result can be a sense in the unit that "anything goes." Nothing can be more destructive in an element than such a sense.

by susie dow on Wed Apr 25, 2007 at 01:50:00 PM EST

: Lots of those (5.00 / 1) (#2)

in the article, and in his answers to the committee's questions (written). Congress bought off on this description of the job, which is a textbook definition for an army of occupation:

The commander of the Multi-National Force-Iraq has a wider responsibility which covers strategic issues and the political/military interface, working with the US Ambassador and Government of Iraq to integrate all aspects of the campaign such as security, governance, economic development, communication, and transition.

by rba on Wed Apr 25, 2007 at 02:00:30 PM EST
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