Uncle,
As I referred to before the Shias, Sunnis and the Christian Chaldean/Assyrian minority are all separating on their own as money and housing becomes available..
We need to help that..
You know the place is not monolithic. For example the Christians are heading to the outskirts of Mosul where the Moslems speak a different dialect and have more or less lived in peace with the Christians for a very long time..
While is the Capital the Sunnis especially have been kidnapping the Christians to a tune of about 500,000 a month ransom.
Sader City is the root of the Shia terrorist activity most likely where the Iranian agents hide and run operations.
It has a population of 2 million but is only about 8 square miles.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/sadr-city-imagery1.htm
The Shia have their Militia let them run the place.. the Sunni have their Miltia..
Close off the smaller streets leadiing out of Sadr City with concrete barracades and establish check dual check points. One managed by the Shia and the outside one by the Sunnis. Now everyone who goes in and out will be scrutinized by the other side the Sunnis will look to find the Bombs and Bomb maker of the Shia and vice versa.
Then we make it clear we will depose the leaders of either side if we are attacked in their area and they do not find the attackers or reveal them to us.
This war is being run on ourside by Light Fighters, first person shooters. Big mistake..
Originally this was a Mech Armor conflict now it is an Combat Engineering war. Detecting Vehicle borne mines and land mines are combat engineering tasks and require controlling the roads, the passage of people and material.
Combat Engineers should be the leaders in this mess. Backed by Mech Armor folks who can take the high explosives which are causing somewhere around 80% of the causalties at this time..
Having our youngsters run around in Thin Skinned wheeled Vehicles like Humvee' Strykers and LAVs conducting "Presence Patrols" is assinine..
"Delivery" Service of our Warriors lives to the terrorists.
We get jumped all the time because of that stupid "Presence Patrol" Technique..
There are plenty of ways to do Combat Patrols that are far different and better.
The idea is to hire the Iraqi young men where ever possible and get them involved in building housing or Security Zones along the borders of Syria and Iran, and between the Shia in the North and Sunis in the South.
Control of the roads means Combat Engineering, denying the enemy freedom of movement.
W
What you right is OK with me. But until Iraq can somehow come to terms with it's multi-ethnic cultures/religions and provide a way under the new constitutional law for all to get a fair shake, there is little reason for any major faction to even consider easing up on the opposites.
One can read articles we found posted here as to how Sunni where protecting Shia, and vice versa in parts of al Anbar over the past few months. Now according to your rigid set of rules it would appear they would not be able to help each other out and protect the lesser in a given local area.
What you fail to mention is the fact that in some areas of Iraq there are homogenouse ethnic groups that have lived in peace with one another, inter married etc..
Your set of rules could be viewed by some as a bit to strict.
As for places like Sadr City I have for a year plus strongly suggested cordon of the whole damn place. Every street, ally and canal way that allows one to enter or leave, and let them see what it is like to be isolated with no way of doing anything about it for say a half year.
This could have been done in each of the three or four major Mahdi army HQ areas, e.g. Najaf.
As for the best techniques utilized by the our Army and Marines in SASO operations I am not there nor trained in such skills. I don't want to sound like an armchair general.
But I can surely envision how the patrol MOB's may have to vary and with that a given technique. Some times they use a phase line that may contain spotters and snipers in place to cover daily patrols. If anything looks out of order, someone moves about in and un-orthodox way, e.g. tries to leave an allyway and start digging along some street. Click. They get a 7.65 or 5.56 round in the head. Our patrols don't just walk or ride about without using caution.
Finally what are we supposed to do until the Iraqi Army and Police finally meet all the Class Level 1 requirements? Just sit around in their FOBs.
Anyway one looks at it, our men have to go on patrols, cordon off towns etc., at a Co or Bn level to achieve a desired effect.
Either that. Or do nothing. The Iraqi divisions in most cases still have a way to go. Some are just starting to see the blessing of regular payroll checks. A lot is left to be done.
Lastly I have no problem with your descriptions of how many groups have lived in the past. But again they have not lived in a totally segregated society. Until the AQIR and some of the radical Sunni groups really started to formulate plans as how they could bust Iraqi up, in preperation for a future Caliph to emerge, whatever, Iraq did not have quite the segregated communities some claim as them having.
We can find solid Christian enclaves in the north and along the Turkish border for instance that for a long time where not molested by either the Kurds, Turkistinians, or Arabs.
Likewise Jews had their little enclaves adjoing say a Sunni or Shia area. But they where aloud to live in peace.
The game plan is to restore this mode to Iraq without having to need a dictator.