Hurting U.S. Efforts to Win Minds, Taliban Disrupt Pay

[Richard]

And so it goes...

Richard

Hurting U.S. Efforts to Win Minds, Taliban Disrupt Pay
Richard Oppel, NYT, 3 Apr 2010

Since their offensive here in February, the Marines have flooded Marja with hundreds of thousands of dollars a week. The tactic aims to win over wary residents by paying them compensation for property damage or putting to work men who would otherwise look to the Taliban for support.

The approach helped turn the tide of insurgency in Iraq. But in Marja, where the Taliban seem to know everything — and most of the time it is impossible to even tell who they are — they have already found ways to thwart the strategy in many places, including killing or beating some who take the Marines’ money, or pocketing it themselves.

Just a few weeks since the start of the operation here, the Taliban have “reseized control and the momentum in a lot of ways” in northern Marja, Maj. James Coffman, civil affairs leader for the Third Battalion, Sixth Marines, said in an interview in late March. “We have to change tactics to get the locals back on our side.”

Col. Ghulam Sakhi, an Afghan National Police commander here, says his informants have told him that at least 30 Taliban have come to one Marine outpost here to take money from the Marines as compensation for property damage or family members killed during the operation in February.

“You shake hands with them, but you don’t know they are Taliban,” Colonel Sakhi said. “They have the same clothes, and the same style. And they are using the money against the Marines. They are buying I.E.D.’s and buying ammunition, everything.”

(cont'd)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/wo...er=rss&emc=rss

[JJ_BPK]

I was told the other day at the 38B school they are pushing everyone to win hears and minds by using money. In fact that seems their only plan in the book.

This is as stupid as it gets..

If Bary & crowd are pushing this type of welfare base subjugation,, It will fail miserably.. Just like he is doing here. Putting people on the dole does nothing but create a welfare state...

As soon as we leave they are back where they started.


Fail Fail...

[DisplacedTrojan]

Money can be a good tool but the problem is that too many people treat it as a silver bullet while very deliberately not calling it a silver bullet. Last time around every time I talked to a Company Commander or Platoon Leader about the intent behind a project or other decision to inject money, 90% of them recited the mantra "money as a weapons system." They say it in that confident manner some use when they don't really know what they're talking about, just hoping you don't ask any more questions.

Amount spent turned into a metric for success. There is a lack of understanding of how to use money effectively.