Adviser: Iraq ‘civil war’ places U.S. in reactive role

[sabra]

http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1764639.php

Adviser: Iraq ‘civil war’ places U.S. in reactive role
Associated Press


NEW YORK — Iraq is embroiled in a “low-level civil war” that is forcing the United States to react to events on the ground rather than shape them, according to a former U.S. military adviser who spent two years there studying the insurgency.

“Once you start reacting to events, you cannot impose a solution,” said Ahmed Hashim, a professor at the Naval War College who worked with U.S. troops in Iraq from November 2003 to September 2005 in an effort to understand the emotions and loyalties driving Iraq’s insurgents. “You go along with the flow.”

Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday, Hashim said the most powerful force behind Iraq’s chaotic downward spiral in recent months is “the identity issue” dividing Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.

“What’s happened over the past several months is that Iraqi communities have created a narrative of one another that is exclusionary,” he said, pointing to the rise of sectarian militias such as the Mahdi Army, the powerful militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

[Ms. Clio]

1. Haven't read it all yet, but I'm a little skeptical of his own narrative

so far. There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that the "exclusionary narrative" has been largely created and deliberately fostered by the United States.

[One Honest Guy]

2. Rantings of a paid stooge aside

Mahdi Army is nothing but a paper tiger. It is very fractionated and many of the regional commanders pay lip service to Muqtada but purse their own agendas. Just look at what happened in spring of 2004 in Najaf at the central graveyard. Something like 600 Mahdi mujahedeen were killed in less than 3 hours. They were poorly trained and in many cases had no previous military training whatsoever. Many were teenagers or old men. They simply charged the checkpoints and got mowed down. No strategy of any kind and no discernible tactics. Faith and religious fervor will get you only so far. Without properly trained individuals Mahdi Army is by and large nothing but a paper tiger. Sophisticated attacks carried out by Sunni insurgents prove this every day.

[cliss]

3. This is not a new development.

The US has, in fact, been reacting to events on the ground about 1 week after they landed in Iraq. I've written many posts which highlight that the US is always in a "1 step behind" mode.

The US is trying to keep the country under control. The Iraqis try something new. The US reacts, must deal with new circumstances, changes its tactics and try to regain control.

Remember the story about the donkey cart? About 2 years ago, some Iraqis put a homemade IED into a donkey cart. It blew up an Abrams tank. I think some people got killed. What does the US do?

The next day, you see photos of US troops inspecting all the donkey carts in town. They had donkey cart check-points for a few days.

Next, the Iraqis start burying IED's in the ground and detonating them. The US must try to cope with this new dynamic. The US is always - 10 steps behind.