And now for something completely identical (414 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.5 on 3 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by partisan (View user info) at 2004-05-13 15:50:11 EDT
That's right, its another Iraq post.
I'll quickly state that i was against the war in the first place, but that's neither here nor there.
I definitely don't subscribe to the view that coalition forces should pull out now either, even if they were to be replaced by UN peacekeepers (The UN has proved time and time again how ineffective it is in these types of situations).
However, I definitely believe that something has to change. To my eyes, the trend that has emerged from actions in Iraq over the past year is that of incompetence. The Us Army might be able to do a bang up job when it comes to an actual war, with an enemy state to be overthrown, but they have proved time and time again that the soldiers in Iraq are soldiers, not policemen. They simply don't have the training or experience to deal with the urban policing that is so often required of them.
Similarly, the soldiers involved in the Abu Ghraib scandal are, for all i know, stand up guys as soldiers. But they aren't prison guards. They should never have been put in that position of power, because they weren't properly trained to handle that responsibility professionally.
Honestly, i think its promising that the USMC pulled out of fallujah, because, frankly, they weren't the appropriate force for the job required. On the other hand, i'm not overly impressed by this iraqi force that has replaced them.
What the US state apparatus and military should have been doing since well before the end of the war (they always knew they'd have to act as a replacement for the Iraqi state, for a short period at least, after the war was won. This was self-evident, since there was no organized domestic mass movement opposed to Saddam.), is training cadres for these situations and bringing in experts who have had to deal with similar situations in the past.
One thing is certain, the increasing privatization of the war is not the way forward. If you're curious about the extent of use of private soldiers, here is a good article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3699957.stm
One example of such experts is the Brazilian police force, arguably the best trained outfit in the world when it comes to urban policing/warfare. The Brazilian police have had to deal with fallujah-esque slums filled with highly organized, heavily armed criminal gangs every day for as long as anyone can care to remember. But that's just one example. I'm sure there are plenty more solutions out there.
I guess what i'm trying to say is that Iraq is in such a mess because not enough serious thought was given to what 'reconstruction' really entailed.
User Reviews
Submitted by partisan (user info) at 2004-05-17 11:58:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Thanks for the advice. When this still had 0 reviews, i was considering titling my next post "why intelligence will never prosper on uber", and basically saying what you've just said. I guess you're right, there's nothing to discuss in this post. Nothing for people to get angry or excited about.
Anyway, I'm about to do a little experiment and change my writing style completely, so look out for my next post.
Submitted by NotApologizing (user info) at 2004-05-14 10:10:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This post was fine. But it didn't get reviews because it's non-inflammatory and pretty moderate.
The policing isn't going well: check
We should bring in experts: check
Those soldiers shouldn't have been guarding prisoners: check
Our government should have expected it: check
You see? What's really to argue or discuss? YOu got 110 hits which isn't too bad, but your statements are sound and aren't going to piss anyone off.
I think it goes to show that sound, objective logic on Übersite is not given attention.
Anyways, you seemed bothered by a lack of reviews so I thought I'd help you out with why. But I liked your post, so you get a +2. If you want reviews next time, just push the political hotbuttons (like the politicians do) and discuss abortion, gun control, etc...
Submitted by Nator (user info) at 2004-05-13 18:42:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
"I guess what i'm trying to say is that Iraq is in such a mess because not enough serious thought was given to what 'reconstruction' really entailed."
I find that so weird. America is arguably the most powerful nation on the earth, and, besides making obvious jokes about Bush's supposed intelligence, it would be a fair assessment to say you don't only have retards in office. Was this situation so unexpectable? Do they just suck at assessing situations? Or do they just don't care? I really have no idea.