Harsh justice where U.S. relies on Iraq tribes

[frogcycle]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/04/AR2007090400353.html

This illustrates what i have been saying for a loooong time.

We cannot "impose" our version of government, or law, on Iraq. Recall the famous saying "all politics is local."

If we just back off and let the natural leaders in the various areas do their thing, a semblance of calm will take over. It won't be our version of a Utopian existence, but the chaos will subside. Just as a pack of wolves sorts out who is the boss and then forms a functioning society, there will be warlords, or chieftains, or whatever they are called, and some local stability. You don't "imposer" a strong central government over a society like that. You let them form alliances, treaties, etc, and work out how to survive. The Kurdish area, Al Anbar, and the Shia south can all probably achieve stability quickly if outside interference is removed. Baghdad and immediate surroundings is thornier, because of such a mixture of ethnicities, religious factions, and tribes. But the same thing can happen there. Once neighborhoods feel a sense of autonomy, have their local "precinct captain, enforce their own rules on who goes where, etc. they will learn to respect the boundaries out of a sheer will to survive. It will still have tensions, and the mavericks will continue to try to start trouble like the bombing of the Golden Mosque, and there will be retaliations. But it will die down rather than continue to escalate, because people get tired of it. Al Anbar demonstrates that, and the rest will too, if we just stop trying to force our will. Stop patrols, stop kicking down doors looking for troublemakers, pull back to our garrison and be available for specific, Iraqi-requested missions for a time. If we do that and it shows success, then we can persuade other nations to assume that role. "Peacekeeping" forces are there to keep peace, not make war. We need to convert to that, and then others may be willing to join.