U.S. pays insurgents (1 Viewer)

dbridge

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>>>By Paul Craig Roberts

19/02/08 "ICH" -- -- It is impossible to keep up with all the Bush regime’s lies. There are simply too many. Among the recent crop, one of the biggest is that the “surge” is working.

Launched last year, the "surge" was the extra 20,000-30,000 U.S. troops sent to Iraq. These few extra troops, Americans were told, would finally supply the necessary forces to pacify Iraq.

This claim never made any sense. The extra troops didn't raise the total number of U.S. soldiers to more than one-third the number every expert has said is necessary in order to successfully occupy Iraq.

The real purpose of the "surge" was to hide another deception. The Bush regime is paying Sunni insurgents $800,000 a day not to attack U.S. forces. That's right, 80,000 members of an "Awakening group," the "Sons of Iraq," a newly formed "U.S.-allied security force" consisting of Sunni insurgents, are being paid $10 a day each not to attack U.S. troops. Allegedly, the Sons of Iraq are now at work fighting al-Qaeda.

This is a much cheaper way to fight a war. We can only wonder why Bush didn't figure it out sooner.

The "surge" was also timed to take account of the near completion of neighborhood cleansing. Most of the violence in Iraq during the past five years has resulted from Sunnis and Shi'ites driving each other out of mixed neighborhoods. Had the two groups been capable of uniting against the U.S. troops, the U.S. would have been driven out of Iraq long ago. Instead, the Iraqis slaughtered each other and fought the Americans in their spare time.

In other words, the "surge" has had nothing to do with any decline in violence.<<<<



Wow... Bush is actually paying our enemies to not fight us. This administration never ceases to amaze me.
 
Too bad Bush probably never made any of those decisions himself. I think that Bush is always given too much credit for the good and bad decisions.
 
>>>By Paul Craig Roberts

19/02/08 "ICH" -- -- It is impossible to keep up with all the Bush regime’s lies. There are simply too many. Among the recent crop, one of the biggest is that the “surge” is working.

Launched last year, the "surge" was the extra 20,000-30,000 U.S. troops sent to Iraq. These few extra troops, Americans were told, would finally supply the necessary forces to pacify Iraq.

This claim never made any sense. The extra troops didn't raise the total number of U.S. soldiers to more than one-third the number every expert has said is necessary in order to successfully occupy Iraq.

The real purpose of the "surge" was to hide another deception. The Bush regime is paying Sunni insurgents $800,000 a day not to attack U.S. forces. That's right, 80,000 members of an "Awakening group," the "Sons of Iraq," a newly formed "U.S.-allied security force" consisting of Sunni insurgents, are being paid $10 a day each not to attack U.S. troops. Allegedly, the Sons of Iraq are now at work fighting al-Qaeda.

This is a much cheaper way to fight a war. We can only wonder why Bush didn't figure it out sooner.

The "surge" was also timed to take account of the near completion of neighborhood cleansing. Most of the violence in Iraq during the past five years has resulted from Sunnis and Shi'ites driving each other out of mixed neighborhoods. Had the two groups been capable of uniting against the U.S. troops, the U.S. would have been driven out of Iraq long ago. Instead, the Iraqis slaughtered each other and fought the Americans in their spare time.

In other words, the "surge" has had nothing to do with any decline in violence.<<<<

Wow... Bush is actually paying our enemies to not fight us. This administration never ceases to amaze me.

Yes, they are bribing the Sunnis. They will keep collecting the cash an build up a war chest for the day when we are gone. They'd be better off demanding the cash in Euros though. In the end the joke may be on them by accepting a declining currency. Their cooperation is being bought cheaply, kind of the way the explorers traded beads with the Indians in exchange for vast tracts of real estate.

As long as the cash flows, that will buy time for this administration. It's also a smart strategy for the Iraqis. They can collect the money and bide their time. It's imposing a real cost on the United States, maybe just as great a cost as they can impose by waging an actual insurgency and in the meantime they can get training and continue to consolidate their organization.

Also a factor, as Roberts mentions, is that mixed neighborhoods have know been effectively cleansed so that the Shia and Sunni are segregated. Walls have gone up to formalize the separation:

Video: Baghdad: City of walls | World news | guardian.co.uk

Meanwhile no underlying problems are actually addressed.

They still want us out. They are just gaming the system as best they can since they know that can not force us out with direct confrontation in the short term. They are probably adopting a long term strategy.

US soldier to Awakening council insurgent "Do you want to kill me?"

Awakening council insurgent to US soldier: "Yes, but not today."

From the Economist:

Iraq | I want to kill you, but not today | Economist.com

Stupidity to get mixed up in this mess.
 
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Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Sons of Iraq are disclosing the locations of weapons caches and turning in the guys who are firing rockets and mortars at our troops. $10 a day is a pretty cheap investment for the return we've seen.
 
Arming both sides with Americans in the middle. Yeah, Mr. President, that new plan is bound to work.
 
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Sons of Iraq are disclosing the locations of weapons caches and turning in the guys who are firing rockets and mortars at our troops. $10 a day is a pretty cheap investment for the return we've seen.

No, it's not $10 a day. It's $800,000... and i doubt that includes the weapons and equipment we're giving these same people who hate us, which they will probably use against us in the future.
 
No, it's not $10 a day. It's $800,000... and i doubt that includes the weapons and equipment we're giving these same people who hate us, which they will probably use against us in the future.
It's $10/day per person...as stated in your link.

How much personal research have you done where the Sons of Iraq are concerned? Or are you simply copy/pasting an op-ed? Just curious.
 
more b.s. from bush...bulldawg i got one question..what do you think will happen when we stop paying our ememies to not fight us?...or better yet are suppose to pay them forever? that's like paying a bully at school to not beat you up..then when you have no more money, he kicks the crap out of you anyway.
 
No, it's not $10 a day. It's $800,000... and i doubt that includes the weapons and equipment we're giving these same people who hate us, which they will probably use against us in the future.

BullDawg is actually there right now. I'd think he would know....
 
more b.s. from bush...bulldawg i got one question..what do you think will happen when we stop paying our ememies to not fight us?...or better yet are suppose to pay them forever? that's like paying a bully at school to not beat you up..then when you have no more money, he kicks the crap out of you anyway.
Right now the Sons of Iraq are actively working to become part of the Iraqi police and the military. It is my understanding (I could be wrong) that once they are accepted into training, they are no longer paid by the US. It's part of the transition.
 
Right now the Sons of Iraq are actively working to become part of the Iraqi police and the military. It is my understanding (I could be wrong) that once they are accepted into training, they are no longer paid by the US. It's part of the transition.

ok..good enough....but what about the ones that are not actively working to be police or military? are they happy just getting their free checks? will they go back to what they where doing before, after we leave whether that be next year or 100 years from now? i don't know bulldawg, it just seems a little fool-hearted to me...maybe it can work, i hope it can, but i just don't think it will.
 
ok..good enough....but what about the ones that are not actively working to be police or military? are they happy just getting their free checks? will they go back to what they where doing before, after we leave whether that be next year or 100 years from now? i don't know bulldawg, it just seems a little fool-hearted to me...maybe it can work, i hope it can, but i just don't think it will.
In my personal opinion, it's a stop-gap measure. AQI and Iranian backed groups are paying individuals a good bit more to be "insurgents". A person is payed a certain amount for each mortar/rocket/small arms attack, a increased amount if a site is hit, and even more if American personnel are hit. A confirmed American kill gets top dollar. So if we invest what amounts to pennies on the dollar for someone to not use US troops for target practice and they're turning in the weapons caches being used for said target practice...it's a pretty good investment. Then again, I'm extremely biased in that view since I'm one of many thousand targets.
 

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