Posted on 01/30/2006 12:56:05 PM PST by jmc1969
With a new general in charge, the U.S. military's plans to fight Iraq's insurgents are expected to emphasize improving Iraqis' quality of life, rather than killing or capturing guerrillas.
The goal, he said, is to "deprive insurgents and terrorists of their support base" among disaffected Iraqis part of a strategy that parallels U.S. political overtures to the Sunni Arabs.
Experts criticize the Bush administration's preference for expensive capital rebuilding schemes such as large power stations that have largely been scuttled by insurgent attacks and whose benefits have often not trickled down to Iraqis.
Sadr City residents today credit American forces with modest improvements, although short of what they'd hoped for. Many believe the neighborhood's calm owes more to the entry into politics of militia leader and radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Many say Chiarelli's maverick methods from 2004 favoring smaller-scale, more easily completed projects such as wells and sewage are being seen as prescient, dovetailing with a rethinking in Washington of U.S. counterinsurgency strategy.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Its not either-or, its both. You have to kill the baddies, and do improvement-of-life projects. You have to do the large scale power houses that put people to work and power whole cities, and you have to get the sewers working.
The writer is trying to create a controversy where there isn't one. The more baddies have bit the dust, the more easily we can get projects built. And the more both needs are met, the killing of baddies, and the building of projects, the happier the populace will be.
And the more we involve the locals in both efforts, the killing part and the building part, the sooner our own guys can take a back seat, and start getting ready to roll on Damascus.
Uhhhhh....isn't TEHRAN the higher priority at this present time???
Syria is the low-hanging fruit, and its where Saddam's WMD are.
But somehow I doubt the Pentagon is monitoring my keyboard musings for advice on how to proceed... But you never know...
"Wait guys, this just in from Marron..."
Typical AP slop.
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