Posted on 09/26/2004 4:10:16 AM PDT by HAL9000
BAQUBA, Iraq, Sept 26 (Reuters) - The U.S military said on Sunday it arrested the head of the Iraqi National Guard in the city of Baquba, only a week after appointing him, on suspicion of collaborating with insurgents.Lieutenant General Talib al-Lahibi headed the Iraqi National Guard in the violent Diyala province and commanded three battalions before being arrested on Thursday.
"Lahibi was detained by Multi-National Forces Sept 23 for having associations with known insurgents," the U.S. military said in a statement. "Talib is currently in Multi-National Forces control."
Lahibi had been appointed to his new post only a week before U.S forces arrested him. He had been nominated by other senior national guardsmen and then appointed by the Americans.
His predecessor was gunned down along with his son last month by guerrillas.
Baquba, a mixed Sunni and Shi'ite town 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, has been a hotbed of the insurgency in Iraq. Iraqi police and the National Guard operate there while the U.S. military also maintain a presence.
Lahibi's arrest highlights the problem the United States and Iraq face in building Iraqi security forces capable of creating a stable state, so that elections can be held in January.
The U.S. military has voiced concerns in the past about the effectiveness of Iraqi security forces when pitted against fellow countrymen.
In April, many security forces refused to join the fight against fellow Iraqis, with some even switching sides and joining the insurgents.
This guy got preferencial treatment to get in and out of the Guard.
Perceptions of success in Iraq is the real war.
AND THE LEFT IS WINNING THE WAR OF PERCEPTIONS IN IRAQ.
Think about it.
Very few of us will ever visit Iraq, meet an Iraqi or even a soldier with first-hand information.
Everything we, and the world, know about this war, is filtered through the media.
The Left know this all to well, and have engaged Michael Moore, AP, AFP, CBS, NYT, Reuters, MTV, etc. to claim we are losing.
In rebuttal, where the hell is the White House Public Relations team? Where are the CIA psyops teams?
We need a major change in tactics.
We need to invest major resources into to winning the war of perceptions in Iraq.
The benefits?
1. Strengthen American resolve. Who doesn't want to be on the winning team? Who doesn't love hearing about the frequent and ruthless killing of terrorist leaders? Who doesn't love watching military videos with imploding terrorists? Who doesn't love seeing Iraqi children going to school, giving flowers and kissing soldiers? The recent images out of Iraq are predominantly Abu Ghraib torture, burning Humvees and beheadings. Time to turn Iraq into the American GI Dance Revue, Oprah and John Wayne. SHOW IT.
2. Weaken terrorist resolve. Their weak communication links make them heavily dependent on outside news. Inundate them with bad stuff. Sabotage and infiltrate Al Jazeera. CONTROL IT.
3. Strengthen Iraqi resolve. The fence-sitters will move positively toward peaceful goals only when they know the resistance is defeated. They are easily influenced by primitive propaganda. USE IT.
4. Strengthen World resolve. The envious Euroweasels are looking to knock us down and leading the assault at the UN. Start applying financial and political muscle to tie support of America to continuing support of our efforts. Money Talks. SPEND IT.
5. Preempt Future Conflicts. Early images of American fighter jets and precision munitions targeting scared the daylights out of foreign leaders in countries like Libya. Time to ramp it up again, and demonstrate to the world that American military might is invincible. FLAUNT IT.
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