From Baghdad Dweller, "Culture Smart Cards" for G.I.s here and here. Very cool. How soon before someone mass markets these like the "Most Wanted" deck?
*
Pop-Ups
They have names like "Defenders of Baghdad," the "Special Police Commandos," the "Defenders of Khadamiya" and the "Assault Brigade." But unlike the equally colorful names of terrorist groups, these paramilitary units are not fighting against the America forces, but with them. Sort of.
According to the Wall Street Journal's Greg Jaffe, Iraqi militia groups are rapidly forming to fight the fascist counter-liberation. Called by U.S. military commanders "pop-ups"--based on their appearance seemingly from nowhere--these dozen or so groups, totaling around 15,000 men, have become "one of the most significant developments in the new Iraq security situation."
"We don't call them militias. Militias are illegal," Jaffe quotes Major Chris Wales. Lapsing into a bit of military-ese, Wales adds, "I've begun calling them 'irregular Iraqi ministry directed brigades.'"
Whatever you call them, these pop-ups are private armies, "commanded by relatives of cabinet officers or tribal sheiks," Jaffe explains. Moreover, they tend to be better motivated that the fledgling Iraqi army.
Read Jaffe's article, and ask yourself--is this what we want to see take place in Iraq? The Iraqi people need to identify with their nation as an abstract entity that transcends ethnic, confessional and political definitions. These pop-ups, as Jaffe notes, tend to identify as much, or more, with their charismatic leaders rather than with the idea, or concept, of Iraq. This sort of personalization of political and social issues is the very bane of tribal politics; the U.S. should discourage it as much as possible. (I will have an essay on this subject appearing on Chester next week.) Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be the case. Jaffe quotes Lt. General David Petraeus, who is overseeing the training of the Iraqi army,
There is a tension between on the one hand encouraging and fostering initiative and on the other executing the plan for the Iraqi Security Forces that everyone agrees on. To be candid, I would err on the side of fostering initiative. I want to get the hell out of here.
So do we all. And obviously, Gen. Petraeus knows more about this situation that any blogger could. Still, it strikes me as ironic that the Washington Times reports that 350 Palestinian militants decided to join the Palestinian Authority security forces--a move that Israel applauds. Clearly, folding militia groups into a centralized army is a positive step toward curbing lawlessness and vigilantism, and insuring that governments maintain a monopoly of force. Encouraging pop-ups in Iraq seems a move in the opposite direction. And with these irregular units comprising up to 15,000 armed men--let alone the numbers in groups like Moqtada al-Sadr's Al-Mahdi militia and SCIRI's Badr Brigade--it seems like a rather considerable reversion toward the old Arab problems of tribalism and rule by personal authority.
Comments