US warned its tough stance won't win in Iraq

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=1243242003

UNITED States soldiers should learn that a tough style will not work in Iraq and should not treat the populace as terrorists, a Swedish military consultant brought in by US forces to improve relations with Iraqis said yesterday.

"They have got into a vicious circle," said Per-Erik Korstroem, a retired lieutenant-colonel. "They are scared, they are subjected to provocation, they are regarded as provocative and they have never had the chance to build up confidence, to create networks and relations. They see the Iraqis as some sort of terrorists."

Mr Korstroem, who has been a private consultant focusing on conflict resolution since 1999, has been hired by the US navy-run Centre for Civil-Military Relations in Monterey, California, to help officers and trainers minimise the risk of conflict between Americans and Iraqis.

Before retiring in 1997, Mr Korstroem, 62, worked for the Swedish Armed Forces International Centre, or SWEDINT, advising on international peace operations. He headed the United Nations security contingent in northern Iraq in 1997-98.
<snip>

Someone get this newsflash onto Dubya's desk. Put some colorful pictures with it so he might read it.

[leftchick]

1. holy cow! Someone there actually knows WTF is going on!

So the US will fire him and find someone else who says things are just swell! :crazy:

[kimchi]

2. How was THIS allowed to get into the news?

Oh, nevermind, it wasn't. Foreign journalism wins again.

[Don Claybrook]

3. This doesn't mean, however, that the Dod will listen

After all, the State Department had numerous, detailed conferences about the rebuilding of Iraq. These meetings were all held before the war. The Pentagon pretty much ignored the whole thing, and I feel sure they'll do the same with this advice and listen to that statesman from Mississippi, Trent Lott, who wants to mow 'em all down.

[htuttle]

5. It is the hallmark of a failed strategy...

...to hire a consultant to figure what you are doing wrong, and then ignore what they tell you.

[Scott Lee]

4. The best way to engender good will with Iraqis is to get out.

But I don't suppose that's on his agenda.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[hang a left]

9. I wonder how long you will be around. Where is my fre-swatter?

[htuttle]

10. Nope. The toothpaste is out of the tube

There's no way to 'fix' Iraq in a way you'd like. Thanks to Bush's rash and illegal invasion, you're going to see an Islamic government in Iraq within a short time after the US leaves.

Who could have known this would have been such a mess? How about millions of us marching before the war? How about the UN and nearly all the planet's governments? How about Bush Sr? How about Cheney's own words after Gulf War 1?

Guess who's going to pay for all this mess? You are. We all are.
.

[yellowcanine]

7. It also doesn't help when

some general starts lecturing Iraqi villagers that if the attacks don't stop he is going to punish the whole class - how out of touch are the people leading the U.S. occupation..uh, liberation, anyway?

[rocketdem]

8. tough stance?

Naw.

Don't you remember? In the campaign he said, "strong but humble." Duh.

That was one of the few things that he said during the campaign with which I agreed. That should be exactly our stance in the world. Too bad that Bush is such a damned liar and didn't or coudn't live up to the ideals of whomever it was who wrote that line for him in the debate (it certainly wasn't a neocon).