Go Back   Professional Soldiers ® > Area Studies > Middle East

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 04-04-2010, 06:24   #1
Richard
Quiet Professional
 
Richard's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: NorCal
Posts: 15,370
Hurting U.S. Efforts to Win Minds, Taliban Disrupt Pay

And so it goes...

Richard


Quote:
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
__________________
“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)… There are just some kind of men who – who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.” - To Kill A Mockingbird (Atticus Finch)

“Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.” - Robert Heinlein
Richard is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-04-2010, 18:59   #2
JJ_BPK
Quiet Professional
 
JJ_BPK's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: 18 yrs upstate NY, 30 yrs South Florida, 20 yrs Conch Republic, now chasing G-Kids in NOVA & UK
Posts: 11,901
Quote:
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...
__________________
Go raibh tú leathuair ar Neamh sula mbeadh a fhios ag an diabhal go bhfuil tú marbh

"May you be a half hour in heaven before the devil knows you’re dead"
JJ_BPK is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-04-2010, 21:34   #3
DisplacedTrojan
Asset
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: TX
Posts: 20
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.
DisplacedTrojan is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:20.



Copyright 2004-2022 by Professional Soldiers ®
Site Designed, Maintained, & Hosted by Hilliker Technologies