US troops pay Iraqis millions to reduce insurgence

[Barrett808]

US troops pay Iraqis millions to reduce insurgence
By Doug Struck, Washington Post | July 28, 2004

TIKRIT, Iraq -- Cash has become the US military's first line of defense in some parts of Iraq, where US soldiers are distributing money to encourage goodwill and to counter their enemies' offers of money to unemployed Iraqis willing to attack Americans, according to officers here.

Even patrol leaders now carry envelopes of cash to spend in their areas. The money comes from brigade commanders, who get as much as $50,000 to $100,000 a month to distribute for local rehabilitation and emergency welfare projects through the Commanders Emergency Response Program.

There are few restrictions on the expenditures, and officers acknowledge they consider the money another weapon. The targets at which it is aimed are the restless legions of unemployed Iraqi men, many of them former soldiers, policemen, and low-level members of the Ba'ath Party of ousted president Saddam Hussein. They were put out of work when the US administrator, L. Paul Bremer III, ordered a de-Ba'athification of Iraq. US soldiers say those men are vulnerable to entreaties to carry out an attack on the Americans for pay.

"I have met two guys now who say, 'I don't love you and I don't hate you. But somebody's offered me $200 to set up a mortar or a , and there's a bonus if we kill you,' " said Lieutenant Colonel Randall Potterf, the civil affairs officer for the Army's First Infantry Division.

Major General John R.S. Batiste, the division commander, said restive central Iraq is full of men who "are young, unemployed, without hope. We are trying to reach out to them. Whenever we get the money, we are trying to apply it to pull over as many of these men as we can to our side."

(more)

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2004/07/28/us_troops_pay_iraqis_millions_to_reduce_insurgence/

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. first line of defense or last?

[grytpype]

2. Anyone think they won't just take our $$$ and try to kill us later?

Me neither.

[Eloriel]

16. Yeah. I can't believe they're THIS stupid, and so money-oriented

that they think money solves everything. Unbelievable. Just un-freakin-believable.

[pinniped]

21. Maybe they have to take a pledge not to fight with coalition forces.

:crazy:

[Mari333]

3. Desperation . This has reached insane, desperation

those millions of dollars, BTW, are your tax money.
This is now completely insane.

[MidwestTransplant]

4. With 70% of the population unemployed,

it's going to take a lot of money to buy off the country's unemployed.

[Beetwasher]

5. They Oughtta Listen To The Beatles More Often

"I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love"

I have no doubt that much of this money is going right into the hands of the resistance and will be used to buy weapons to kill US soldiers. How ironic...:eyes:

[mom cat]

18. But it can buy food. Too bad that we are wasting over a billion a

month on destroying the country when a fraction of this amount could have rebuilt much of the country and brought some real stability.

[leftchick]

20. I believe it is up to 5 Billion a month for the half-assed aWol* war.....

but who is counting....:shrug:

[jimshoes]

6. Why not try that

in the USA, I could use a few extra bucks. And for those welfare hatin' republicans, how do they view the cash giveaway to those other brown people?

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. It's already been done here

Remember the 300-600 tax "rebate"? What else could be the cause of a "neck and neck" race after all this?

[Cha]

13. The media! I've heard people say they didn't really get

a "tax cut".

[The_Casual_Observer]

14. Well I don't know about "people" but I got a check

and I believe that chimp will be "reminding" us about his largess in the coming days.

[jimshoes]

15. I don't recall if I got that since I'm always filing extensions...

so when most folks got that, my taxes had yet to be filed. I must ask the wife.

[JohnnyRingo]

7. Bribery....Hey, it works in Washington

This is obviously a white house decision, not a pentagon policy.

[Flagg]

8. That's kinda pathetic for the "1st army" in the world

[Deb]

9. This is extortion

How loud do the terrorists need to laugh before D.C. listens?

:grr:

[MichiganVote]

12. This war is absolutely nuts

And where is the grand marschall? Vacationing in Crawford, Texas. What a useless piece of work George Bush AND his administration are.
This admin. chastizes the Phillipines for leaving the country and then the only way troops can cope is to throw our tax money around in a country that we have already DONATED Billions to? Even the money that was provided wasn't even spent by that hairdo called Bremer.

Crazy and craxy and crazy. Watch what they say, watch what they do, believe what they do

[gratuitous]

11. Millions in cash, unaccountable and distributed freely?

No way this could boomerang against us, is there?

I'll give props to this corrupt administration: It takes an uncommon mind to think up something like this. Usually, though, the uncommon mind's sober friends talk him out of it, but we ain't got nothin' like that around the Bushistas.

[Zorra]

17. Wow. Good way to increase the Iraqi Resistance Movement.

Buy weapons and ammo with your bonus from Uncle Sam.

Keep fighting so the US will give your people money for nothing.

Well, hopefully that money is being put to good use by some people.

Wait, is that taxpayer money they are giving away? Who'd a thunk it, now the republicans are doling out welfare payments.

"full of men who "are young, unemployed, without hope. We are trying to reach out to them. Whenever we get the money, we are trying to apply it to pull over as many of these men as we can to our side."

The US has a lot of men that are "young, unemployed, and without hope" also.

Hey, if we promise not to start a revolution in the US, will the government distribute some cash to us?

We need to get out of Iraq ASAP.

[leesa]

19. Oh yeah, that'll work. What idiot thought of that?

[soup]

23. this one?

First, let me make it very clear, poor people aren't necessarily killers. Just because you happen to be not rich doesn't mean you're willing to kill. -- Washington, DC, May 19, 2003.

You're free. And freedom is beautiful. And, you know, it'll take time to restore chaos and order....
-- responding to a reporter who asked what Bush's message to the Iraqi people was, Washington, DC, April 13, 2003

We're fighting an enemy ... that will wear civilian uniforms....
-- Washington, DC, March 25, 2003.

I'm the commander -- see, I don't need to explain -- I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation.
-- interviewed by Bob Woodward, Crawford, TX, August 20, 2002.

[0007]

22. Why not offer 'em U.S. citizenship and CEO status with big

corporations.