[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: The hard part

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Mary Madigan:
The hard part
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1188406203.shtml


   The blogosphere's Ernie Pyle, [1]Michael Totten, posts his [2]report
   from Mushadah, Iraq:

     "Al Qaeda terrifies locals," said Major Mike Garcia from Canyon,
     Texas, before he put me in a convoy of Humvees with 18 American
     Military Police on their way to the small town of Mushadah just
     north of Baghdad. "The only people Iraqis may be more afraid of is
     their mothers. When we arrest or detain people and threaten to call
     up their mom, they completely freak out. Please, no, donât tell my
     mother they say. Women are quiet outside the house, but they
     severely smack down their bad kids inside the house. When your
     Iraqi mother tells you to knock something off, you knock it off."

     The American military has slowly figured out how to leverage Iraqâs
     culture to its advantage, but it only works to an extent. Locating,
     killing, capturing, and interrogating terrorists and insurgents is
     the easy part. The hard part is training Iraqis to do it
     themselves.

     Our destination in Mushadah was the local police station where
     American Military Police train and equip Iraqi Police, and where
     itâs still too dangerous for either Iraqis or Americans to walk the
     streets.

     "I am not trying to scare you," said Captain Maryanne Naro, from
     Fort Drum, New York. "But donât get out of your vehicle unless
     something catastrophic has happened to it."

   [3]More..

References

   1. http://www.michaeltotten.com/
   2. http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/001510.html
   3. http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/001510.html