Marines Offer New Tactics in Iraq

[kskiska]

Reduced Use of Force Planned After Takeover From Army

Wednesday, January 7, 2004; Page A01

As the Marine Corps prepares to take over occupying much of western Iraq from the U.S. Army, it is planning a fresh approach that emphasizes restraint in the use of force, cultural sensitivity and a public message that the new troops aren't from the Army, according to an internal Marine document and interviews with top officers.

The working plan for Marines moving into the Sunni Triangle includes more interaction with Iraqis and a premium on respect for peaceable civilians. Marines will be taught a few words of Arabic, counseled on religious etiquette and ordered never to wear sunglasses when talking to Iraqis.

In a tactic reminiscent of the U.S. presence in Vietnam, platoons of Marines will live among the people in many Sunni towns and villages to facilitate training of the Iraqi police and civil defense forces, according to the document. To emphasize to Iraqis that the Marines arriving in Fallujah and other centers of resistance are a new crowd, the Marines are considering wearing green camouflage uniforms for their initial 45 days of patrolling instead of the dessert cammies worn by the Army.

Army officers and other military professionals who have seen the document summarizing the Marines' approach viewed it as an implicit criticism of the Army's tactics and results in the Sunni heartland west of Baghdad. Some called it unfair and ill-advised second-guessing. But others viewed it as a constructive attempt to learn from the hardships and mistakes of the Army in western Iraq, historically Saddam Hussein's power center and more recently the hub of the resistance that has hobbled U.S. efforts to rebuild the country.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60455-2004Jan6.html

[leesa]

1. What is this? Another PsyOps doomed to failure event?

How many ways can the Iraqi people say they don't want the US invaders and murderers of their friends and families in their country. Get the hell out!

[kskiska]

2. Get this (last paragraph):

"I like the Marine approach, and I think it'll succeed," said Army Lt. Col. David J. Poirier, military police commander in Tikrit. "I love our Army, and I will not criticize it, but war is not free of mistakes, and I believe that some of the insurgency is due to families acting out against American forces for deaths occurring as a result of collateral damage."

Duh…

[TacticalPeek]

3. When the Marines were there before,

they were building voting booths, until the chickenhawks ordered them to stop.

Reminds me of the Vietnam 'Geneva' elections we skipped.

:(

[daleo]

4. The article sounds pretty Iraqnam-ish

First example:
--------------
Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Division, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., said he intends to pursue a two-track effort. One track will be aimed at capturing or killing what Mattis considers to be a small minority who are determined to fight the U.S. presence. He said he would employ some novel and aggressive tactics. At Mattis's request, The Washington Post is not printing information about those offensive tactics.

Second example:
---------------
The other track, he said, focuses on diminishing support for the resistance among the populace in western Iraq.
Among other things, Mattis plans to revive the Vietnam War's Combined Action Platoons (CAPs), small Marine units that lived among villagers and helped train them to defend themselves. The notes from the Marine planning conference state, "Idea is that this Platoon, similar to Vietnam, will live and work with Police and ICDC," a reference to the new Iraqi Civil Defense Corps that the U.S. occupation authority is creating to conduct some security functions.

And this sentence is pretty Orwellian:
--------------------------------------
These small units resemble an armed version of the Peace Corps, with training in such areas as cultural sensitivities and night patrolling.

[Voltaire99]

5. This is really sounding good!

So: after the murder and terror that comprised Shock and Awe; after the blind firing into crowds; after the kicking to death of captives reported just this week; after the previous atrocities have filled more graves than Saddam had in years; and in the midst of this illegal occupation built upon lies, now, only now, our occupying army is going to try "cultural sensitivity," and if the Iraqis respond to this show of benevolence, our Marines might even go all out and. . .put on green camouflage clothing?

Lucky bastards, those Iraqis.

[xchrom]

6. how culturally sensitive

can the occupier of your country appear to be?
as long as his boot is up your ass -- doesn't much matter if his sun glasses are on or off.

[Ernesto]

7. From day 1 in boot camp, Marines

are taught about their superiority to other branches of the military, especially the Army. A chance to show up the Army is dream come true for career minded Marines.