. Military Space News .
Outside View: Doing Iraq Right

With a trillion dollars in arms deals each year, the trickle down effect will last forever on some battlefields.

Washington DC (UPI) July 1, 2005
An article in the June 23 Christian Science Monitor, "A U.S. patrol gains trust in Baghdad neighborhood," tells the story of an American unit that gets Fourth Generation war.

"When the patrol (in Humvees) passes a busy street, Lieutenant Waters . . . tells his men to get out and start walking. As the foot patrol makes its way through the streets, an old Shiite woman in a black hejab invites Waters into her house. At the threshold, Waters politely waits.

"I don't want to track the dirt from the street into your house,' he tells her...

"Waters is trying to gain the trust of this tense district, where the U.S. has previously been regarded with hatred and suspicion...

"After long months in this sector of Baghdad, Waters's company has not killed anyone nor has it lost a single soldier.

"We are not killing machines; we are men,' Waters explains. 'I think if we can deal with the separation from our families, and not become hardhearted, we might just be able to leave here changed in a positive way.'

"It's just like the Hippocratic oath,' he says. 'First, do no harm."

What has enabled Lt. Waters and his unit of California National Guardsmen to get it right? Lt. Waters is a cop. Specifically, he is a sheriff from Sacramento. He is dealing with the people of Baghdad the same way he deals with the people back home, politely and with a genuine desire to help.

His unit has not killed anyone because Lt. Waters knows cops succeed by de-escalating, not by escalating violence. Cops try very hard not to kill people. In fact, cops don't want to fight at all.

Just as having soldiers who want to fight is important in Second and Third Generation war, so not wanting to fight is key to success in the Fourth Generation.

Any fight, whether won or lost, ultimately works against an outside power that is trying to damp down a Fourth Generation conflict. Fighting ramps up disorder, and Fourth Generation entities thrive on disorder.

Disorder undermines the local government's legitimacy, because disorder proves that government cannot provide security. Fighting usually means that locals get killed, and when that happens, the relatives and friends of the casualties are then obliged to join the fight to get revenge. Violence escalates, when success requires de-escalation.

Again, cops know all this. Here we see another lesson for 4GW: Reserve and National Guard units are more valuable than regular troops. Why? Because they contain a lot of cops. Lt. Waters is not the only cop who has succeeded in Iraq. Other Guard and Reserve units have let their cops take the lead, working the same way they do back home to de-escalate violence and bring security. Like Lt. Waters, they have achieved some local successes.

In order to turn local successes into success on a larger scale, American policy needs to focus more broadly on de-escalation. Here again there is some tentative good news. According to the London Sunday ��Times, the United States is now negotiating with several of the Sunni insurgent groups.

Tensions between Baathist elements of the Iraqi resistance and Islamist elements, especially those employing foreign fighters, have already escalated to the point of firefights between the two. We should be able to make deals with some of the Baathists.

The Sunday Times reported that the resistance leaders we are talking with have one main demand: that we set a date for leaving Iraq. One of the Iraqi negotiators was quoted as saying, "We told them it did not matter whether we are talking about one year or a five-year plan but that we insisted on having a timetable nonetheless."

That is a demand the United States should be willing to meet. Not only would a set date for American withdrawal undermine much of the resistance, it would turn our opponents back on themselves by allowing the Baathists to focus on fighting the Islamists, assuming we are smart enough to let them do so. It would also help the American public see some end to a conflict with which it is understandable growing weary.

Fourth Generation theory says that to have any hope of victory, an outside force needs to de-escalate on every level. If other American units in Iraq could learn from cops like Lt. Waters how to de-escalate on the local, tactical level, and we could combine that with de-escalation on the strategic level through a deal with Baathist insurgents, we might still be able to avoid outright defeat. Given the consequences of earlier errors such as disbanding the Iraqi army, that is as close to victory as we can now realistically hope to come.

(William S. Lind, expressing his own personal opinion, is Director for the Center for Cultural Conservatism for the Free Congress Foundation.)

(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)

Related Links
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express

Walker's World: Iraq's Gloomy Experts
Washington DC (UPI) July 1, 2005
President George W. Bush did himself no favors with last week's televised address on Iraq. Most of the U.S. media commentary seemed more concerned with the lack of applause from his military audience at Fort Bragg, N.C., (they were asked to refrain from making the event look like a pep rally) than with the substance and policy implications of his speech.







  • US Warned Not To Ignore Chinese Military Advances

  • Analysis: Pakistan, Israel Put Out Feelers
  • China, Russia Call For Building Of New Security Framework
  • Outside View: Good Start To NK Talks
  • Ukraine Will Not House Nuclear Weapons If It Joins NATO: Minister

  • LockMart's Joint Common Missile Successful In Controlled Test Vehicle Flight
  • Japan Urges Ukraine To Probe Alleged Cruise Missile Sales To Iran, China
  • Japan Urges Ukraine To Probe Alleged Cruise Missile Sales To Iran, China
  • Software For Joint Common Missile Seeker Passes Key Design Reviews

  • Horne Engineering Wins More GBM Missile Defense Contracts In Alaska
  • Northrop Grumman-built Forrest Sherman Completes 'Super' Sea Trial
  • USAF Awards Raytheon $752M Contract For Taiwan Early Warning Radar
  • Herley Receives $1.2M Contract Award For U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense

  • EU Urges China To Liberalize Aviation Sector
  • NASA Announces Aerospace Systems Modeling Selection
  • EADS Names New Leaders
  • BAE Systems Completes Acquisition of United Defense Industries

  • AeroVironment Flies World's First Liquid Hydrogen Powered UAV
  • UAV Uses PIC18 Microcontrollers For Record-Breaking 48-Hour Flight
  • Proxy Aviation Systems Unveils SkyWatcher
  • Boeing X-45A Unmanned Aircraft Demonstrates Autonomous Capability

  • Walker's World: Iraq's Gloomy Experts
  • Outside View: Doing Iraq Right
  • Potential Seen In Iraq's Telecom Rebirth
  • The Iraqi Balance Sheet: One Year On

  • BAE Systems To Remanufacture And Upgrade Hercules Tank Recovery Transporters
  • Pod Turns Pilots Into Iraq 'Beat Cops'
  • Development Of Remote Bio-Monitoring Military Device Technology
  • DD(X) Team Flies Long-Range Land-Attack Projectile to Record Range

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement