U.S. Army turns to urban gangs for ideas in quelling insurgents

[struggle4progress]

By Bryan Bender

The Boston Globe

As it struggles to control the insurgency in Iraq, the U.S. Army is looking for lessons from an unusual source: urban gangs. <snip>

Challenging the conventional approach of the U.S. military and its allies of relying on firepower to defeat guerrillas, the study argues that the current anti-insurgent strategy can't succeed without tough police work and social programs addressing the root causes of street conflict -- poverty, injustice, repression, lack of opportunity.

"We traditionally think of insurgency as primarily a military activity, and we think of gangs as a simple law enforcement problem," according to the study by Max Manwaring, a professor of military strategy. "Yet insurgents and gangs are engaged in a highly complex political act: political war."

The Iraq insurgency shows signs of spiraling into a broader criminal network. Some senior officers have recently reported that criminals for hire are playing larger roles in the violence. But Manwaring's paper, which is getting attention on military Web sites and in internal Pentagon discussions, warns that the U.S. military still treats insurgents as largely a security problem, not a societal one -- a major reason violence remains high in Iraq. Some specialists worry that without a more holistic approach, the instability will remain long after the troops come home. <snip>

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/special_packages/iraq/11227940.htm

[Cocoa]

1. send Laura Bush to Fallujah n/t

[DBoon]

2. So we've turned Iraq into the world's largest urban ghetto

complete with gangs.

[Spinzonner]

3. Ah, Defense Department contracts with Bloods and Crips ...

Oh well, how much worse can they be than Halliburton ?

[rodeodance]

4. I doubt it will occur to them that it is our policies that are at the root

[ragin_acadian]

5. i can't wait for the made for tv movie

"a west side army"

[riverwalker]

6. I hear Laura Bush has expertise

wasn't she going to spearhead some anti-gang inititives for troubled yoots?
in addition: she is not exactly making a beeline for Red Lake. These kids need help right now, and our nations momma figure has not said a word to them.

[damntexdem]

7. We have to fight this war with ...

the gangs we have.

[bemildred]

8. Yeah, yeah, "winning hearts and minds", blah blah blah.

Why does it never occur to these fuckwits that invading another
peoples territory is the bad idea, and all this patch, patch, patch
shit after the fact isn't going to fix it because it is fundamentally
both stupid and wrong in the moral sense to begin with?

[teryang]

9. More social engineering from the ideologues

What a bunch of freaking morans.

We invaded your country, bombed your homes, killed your women and children and humiliated your men.

We're here to help. Why can't you understand that?

Here's a hersey bar, a bible, and a $500 solatia payment. Don't you feel better now? Aren't we great pals?

By the way, we'll kill anyone who starts any trouble.