Take off gloves in bloody Iraq

New York Daily News ^ | 10/28/03

[kattracks]

Happy Ramadan. Here's how the medieval fanatics celebrated the arrival of the holy month yesterday: with desecration. With one horrific Baghdad blast after another, killing at least 34, wounding more than 200.

The casualties included Iraqi police officers who have been dutifully working with coalition forces to secure their tattered post-Saddam nation and wholly humanitarian Red Cross volunteers who were blown up by suicide bombers driving a Red Cross ambulance.

Counting Sunday's brazen missile attack on a Baghdad hotel occupied by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, the daily slaughter is grimmer than it has been since the U.S. rolled into Iraq in March.

The soulless murderers are attacking with the clear intent of undermining U.S. resolve at a time when many Americans are growing skittish at the cost in lives and dollars of bringing a free and democratic Iraq into the 21st century. Amid the bloodshed, it is all too easy to lose sight of the hard-won progress that's being made toward that goal.

President Bush vows to stay the course in defeating the forces swarming in with hatred in their hearts, readied for death and glory. To abandon the Iraqis now, or even to waver in commitment, would be a disastrous blow to the region and to U.S. prestige.

There is an alternative to merely staying the course - take the gloves off altogether.

We've been playing a little too nice in Iraq. We've been pacifying more than we've been taking care of business. We've been more culturally sensitive than is entirely a good thing for the safety of our troops. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said it himself: Our aggression is insufficient. We're not punching hard enough.

Sunday's hotel assault, it is reported, was known by intel to be imminent. Yet local officials conceded that no particular precautions were taken. Not to put too fine a point on this, but: Why the hell not?

It has now been nearly six months since the President declared major combat operations to have concluded. It's time to declare them resumed.

[snip]

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Originally published on October 28, 2003

[deanjames]

I think it's the only way to get these people to learn.

Get really tough, for there own good.

[tal hajus]

I'm inclined to agree. Perhaps now is the time for some "shock and awe".

[ZULU]

The problem here is that we have to win the support of the Iraqi people who are vicitims of this violence also, while retaliating against the fanatic thugs responsible for this. An independent, stable Iraq would be a good staging area for attacks on radical Islamic states like Iran and Syria and Saudi Arabia - and they know it. Which is probably the reason theyare supporting this violence surreptitiously.

We should take our gloves off when dealing with specific attackers. Not ONE single Talibalist or terrorist in Iraq has been tried and executed. Not one single detainee in Guantanmo Bay. This should be done immediately. Our failure to do so has been interpreted as weakness by individual Muslims. Those found guilty of terrorist attacks or assisting Saddam in his regime of horror should be publicly beheaded al a Saudi style and their bodies put out on display before burial in Islamic manner. Most Islamic states and people respect strenght and only believe what they can see for tehmselves. Remember the need to display Saddam's sons bodies before the Iraqis believed it??

[tm22721]

Ya think MacArthur would have tolerated this crap in Japan ? There would have been dead Nips everywhere.

The problem is, we did not achieve a total victory in Iraq, at least according to Arab standards of brutality and mayhem, beheading all of your enemies including their families. Since we did not achieve a victory, we are not victors.

When in Arabia, do as the Arabians do. We must fight in the 14th century until they are brought into the 21st.

BUIMP

[Coop]

Okay. Get tough and do what?

[jocon307]

"It has now been nearly six months since the President declared major combat operations to have concluded. It's time to declare them resumed."

AGREED, Good for the Daily News. I'm going to buy the paper today, clip this editorial and put it up on my office wall.

The News had drifted really left in the past few years, but they have been EXCELLENT on the War on Muslim Terror. The gov't cannot back down, otherwise the stupid, short-sighted leftists on this side of the globe will only be emboldened.

I only hope W, who says he doesn't read the papers, reads this.

[verity]

Ping me if someone provides you with any coherent specifics.

[goldstategop]

Agreed. Either we wipe out the terrorists or start pulling our troops out of Iraq. It makes no sense to leave them sitting ducks if we're not going to defend ourselves there. How about dropping a neutron bomb on Tikrit and Falloujah? That would eliminate the bulk of the terrorist attacks being launched at our forces. Playing nice in the Middle East only gets you slaughtered.

[Gritty]

The soulless murderers are attacking with the clear intent of undermining U.S. resolve at a time when many Americans are growing skittish at the cost in lives and dollars

Gosh. Do ya think the enemy is being encouraged by our Democrat candidates who are making every effort to bash the Administration and pledge they will withdraw if they get the reins, leaving the field to the Jihadists?

I know I would be greatly encouraged, and would redouble my efforts to increase American casualties and spread chaos - as the Islamists are doing!

[truthchaser]

It seems to me that the coalition forces are just about at the limit in terms of heavy-handedness. Any escalation would likely be counter-productive. We are at a crucial time in this war. We need more Iraqi uniforms of all types... more police and I dare say Iraqi military units. With 20+ billion to spend, I should think we could throw substantially greater funding at this... recruitement, training, deployment. It should be one of the highest priorites. I also like the bounty/reward programs. I have to believe that has more legs.

[Pilsner]

Terror attacks are the lowest level of guerrilla warfare. It can make things very uncomfortable for the government, but it cannot win so long as the governemnt keeps its nerve. "Getting tough" with the populace is what the terrorists want. It drives people out of our camp and into the indifferent middle and out of the middle into the terrorist's camp. The French were plenty tough in Vietnam and got their a@@es handed to them. They were a lot tougher in Algeria, but the home folks were so appaled by what was being done in thier name that they (through DeGalle) quit while militarily they were ahead.

The Brits have won a couple of guerrilla wars and they did it by: (1) having a real political program that appealed to the people, not just paying lip service to politcal reform, (2) fighting the guerrillas not the population as a whole, and (3) cutting off the guerrillas from outside help.

It is a lot easier to punish the Iraqi people than the guerrillas, the people cannot hide, but it makes about as much sense as craking down on law abiding gun owners because crack dealers are shooting each other.

We need to keep going with politcal reform, work hard to catch and kill guerrillas while not terrorizing the population and seal the Syrian and Iranian borders. It won't be fast or easy, but it will work.

[Prodigal Son]

Okay. Get tough and do what?

Yes, I would like to know as well. Has anyone specifics or was this just idle chatter?

[presidio9]

What's this? A moment of sanity from the NY Daily News?

[Final Authority]

What is tough? General Sherman was tough. Stalin was tough. I do not know what GWB will do but I can speak for myself. We know that the loyalists are men between the ages of 16 and, say 45. Have them register for ID's and wear a ID tag. All men, after a certain date not registered should be considered dangerous, shot, or taken prisoner and placed in a prison camp. Villages where there is a reluctance to register or cooperate should be advised that the village will be razed, destroyed after a certain date, and then carried out.

This type of effort must be escalated with every effort by the insurgency to thwart it.

We can't turn back because the vacuum would be filled by those that we will just have to fight again and this time they will have $2 trillion worth of oil to fund their plans.

[Search4Truth]

The recent attacks in Iraq were attacks on the Iraqi people, by foreign insurgents. It was an attack on the Iraqi people, who want to get back to the business of living, by religious zealots interested only in gaining power, the only way they know how, through terror.

We need to start making this fight between the Iraqis, who would take advantage of the extraordinary opportunity we are giving them, and those who are only interested in a return to tyranny. We have to get as much Iraqi skin in this game as possible, as soon as possible. Then we will see if the Iraqis will fight for their freedoms, as all free peoples must.

God bless President Bush for having the courage and convictions to choose and stay this most difficult path. What ever the costs, it was the right thing to do. It was the American thing to do.

[eyespysomething]

If the average civilian is more scared of being killed by coalition forces than "insurgents" then they will co-operate more with the coalition and stop more of this kind of crap.

Take the gloves off bump!

Oh, and also get some body armor for our guys.

[Principled]

...seal the Syrian and Iranian borders...

Get tough at the borders. Get tough with Syria (Iran will take care of itself.)

[No Truce With Kings]

"It has now been nearly six months since the President declared major combat operations to have concluded. It's time to declare them resumed."

Sorry, major combat operations remain concluded.

These attacks are not going to be solved by posting a couple of carriers near the Persian Gulf or through divisional sweeps with attack helicopters being used in brigade-sized raids. You don't cure suicide bombers by calling in Corp artillery. *Those* are major combat operations.

We are going to win or lose the counterinsurgency with small-unit tactics. Our success will depend upon the skill and agressiveness of our battalion and company commanders, and our platoon leaders. It will also depend upon the Iraqis picking up arms and joining us in a vermin hunt.

Our commanders and leaders are up to this kind of a challenge. So are our troops. And the Iraqis seem to be joining us. About half of the attacks over the last couple of days were foiled by our Iraqi allies.

To me, the attacks of the last few days were more a sign of desperation and despair on the part of our adversaries. Two months to plan one rocket attack against a soft target? Where half the missiles fail to launch? Suicide bombings made by foreigners with Syrian passports? That hardly seems consistant with a winning adversary.

All we need to assure ultimate victory is patience -- on the part of the home front.

[moodyskeptic]

Okay, I'll bite. Specifics.

Run a few hasty trials (Nuremburg) with known terrorists and Saddam's torturing henchmen, ones that Iraqis recognize from before. Execute them publicly ( yes, the UN, democrats,and the Euros will screech to high heaven) so that we make clear to Iraq that we will 1: protect our troopers violently, and 2. Punish Saddam's torturers.

I suspect only six executions would do the trick. The people need proof of US commitment and resolve. Supply it.

Six lives measured against thousands and the recovery of a nation seems a bargain.