Nice to see our soldiers in Iraq trying to do right. . .can only go so far

[bigtree]

The Softer Touch

In north-central Iraq, battalion by battalion, the Army is shifting its tactics. Recognizing that the consent of the local populace is the foundation of progress, battalions are taking pains to make friends. This means talking (and listening) to local leaders, keeping armored vehicles out of crowded cities, handing out goodies like pencils and medicine and generally treating Iraqis with the same respect you might treat a fellow American. And that means not shooting at them unless you have to.

Some battalions have a softer touch than others. In a recent issue of Spokane's The Inlander newspaper, I profiled Echo Company, 1-8 Infantry, a unit that has taken a softer approach than most:



"It's been suggested that the reason we don't get hit as much is because we're nicer to people," Austin says. Other units shoot up the countryside to test their weapons -- and as a show of force. But not Echo. "We don't do test fires. You don't know where that round's going to go." He says the unit that Echo replaced accidentally shot an Iraqi woman during a test fire.

While Echo has fired warning shots at cars that get too close to their convoys, they've done so as a last resort -- and only twice in two months. Austin says one of the key tenets of Echo's strategy for winning the support of everyday Iraqis is that "we just don't shoot at them.”

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002288.html

this should make their trigger happy superiors nervous

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. "taking pains to make friends"

How about cutting this shit out, coming home and going back to work?

[bigtree]

3. I agree with that

this is just an illustration of how deep the danger is and how lethal our forces are just in occupying.

Good for them that they stopped the practice of test firings, and are more mindful of the potential devastation of their warning shots.

[pocket]

2. sorry about all the dead kids, but here's some candy.

Friends?

[Roland99]

4. This has been tried for going on two years now...White Page Truce

The White Page Truce
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/06/19/international1221EDT0503.DTL&type=printable

For five days, April 3-7, Ryan's 400 soldiers fought pitched battles with militants using Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles. No Americans died, but hundreds of Iraqis did and much of the town was damaged.

The battalion took control of Abu Ghraib, but it was the worst kind of occupation, Ryan said. There was a curfew and numerous checkpoints were set up. Soldiers searched every vehicle and person entering town and no one liked it.

But Ryan also was learning about Iraqi culture. While the councils had political power, he realized he needed the help of tribal and religious leaders to ease tensions.

"When I met with this one sheik, from the Tamimi tribe, he told me I was the first coalition official to ever talk to him," Ryan recalled.

At another meeting, Ryan was offering cash for a construction project when "one guy said to me, `We don't want your money, we want your respect.' That stuck with me."

And this:

U.S. Marines in Fallujah turn to diplomacy
After fierce battle, military tries to build trust, cement gains
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6564063/

In an initial, post-attack trust-building exercise, Henegar arranged with a local imam to have men from a nearby village help in removing the bodies of the estimated 1,200 insurgents killed in Fallujah since the Marine-led assault began Nov. 8.

The Marines hope the grisly task can establish relationships with local Iraqis needed as partners in reconstruction — and turn up leaders to help in the effort.

“The very first, most basic thing is engagement, building relationships. But the challenge is picking the right people with whom to engage. We really can’t just reach down and pick leaders,” says Henegar.

In the area near Fallujah, the entrenched leaders are often local sheiks, whose thicket of tribal and political affiliations aren’t greatly understood by Marines.

One sheik helping in the body-collection effort, who gave his name to reporters as Abdul Hamid, smiles and joked with the Marines. But when they’re not listening, he calls them the “Jew Americans.”

[TheBaldyMan]

5. wearing helmet & shades strikes me as intimidating

If they can't wear berets after 3 years that's a sign that progress is not being made. The troops have an impossible job, trying to keep order with too small a troop complement.

Three years of overkill and only now, with the place in a state of civil insurrection do the powers that be think that treating people with respect and humility is the way forward. This is inexcusable in an army where so many of the senior officers have experience in Vietnam.

I suppose half of them still blame the peacemongers for the US defeat there.