[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: "Yeah, you're right. We want your oil"

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Posted by Mary Madigan:
"Yeah, you're right. We want your oil" 
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1196439345.shtml


   Via Wired - an article about how we're winning the hearts and minds of
   the community by protecting them from crime, putting the 'cops' out on
   the street, refusing to back down when confronted with bullshit
   excuses.

   Sounds like what Giuliani did for New York City...

     [1]In Iraq, the Critical Networks Are Social â Not Electronic

     His name is Joe Colabuno, and he's a sergeant who works in
     psychological operations â psyops, in military-speak. His job is to
     win the hearts-and-minds battle, and his tools are almost comically
     simple: posters drawn in Photoshop, loudspeaker and radio
     broadcasts pasted together with SonicStage and saved to MiniDiscs,
     the occasional newspaper article, and, above all, his own big
     mouth. Arab culture lives by its oral traditions; talk is often the
     most important weapon. "I find the right people to shape, and they
     shape the rest," Colabuno says.

     Just as in Tarmiyah, troops in Fallujah are looking to recruit
     locals to keep tabs on their neighborhoods. Yesterday, on the west
     side of town, an alligator [alligators are watchmen who've come to
     be known in other towns as "alligators" for their light-blue Izod
     shirts] helped catch one of the Americans' top insurgent targets in
     Fallujah. After seeing a photograph, the watchman ID'd the guy as a
     neighbor, living just a few houses down the street.

     But an alligator-recruiting drive yesterday in the Askeri district,
     in the northeastern corner of town, didn't go so well. The marines
     got less than half of the 125 they were looking for. So Colabuno
     hops into a Humvee to find out why.

     We pull up to a narrow, unpaved street alongside the Askeri
     recruiting station. A group of seven men sit on the gravel, beneath
     a set of drying sheets. In the middle of the crowd, leaning on a
     cane, fingering prayer beads and dressed in white, is a rotund,
     bearded man. He's clearly the ringleader. Colabuno and his
     wire-thin interpreter, Leo, approach him. In every other district,
     they've recruited plenty of alligators. "Why not in Askeri?"
     Colabuno asks the ringleader.

     The money's not good enough, he answers. An alligator makes only
     $50 a month; day laborers get $8 a day â when there's work, that
     is.

     "That's the weakest argument ever," Colabuno says. The men looked
     stunned; Americans don't normally speak this directly â they're
     usually deferential to the point of looking weak, or just
     condescending.

     "Do you remember Sheikh Hamsa?" Colabuno asks. Sure, sure, the men
     nod. The popular imam was killed more than a year ago by
     insurgents, but they're a bit surprised that Colabuno knows who he
     is. Most of the US troops here have been in town for just a few
     months. "Well, Sheikh Hamsa told me that weak faith protects only
     so much.'" The ringleader stares down at the ground and fingers his
     beads. Colabuno has hit a nerve. "You know, I looked in the Koran.
     I didn't see anything about Mohammed demanding a better salary
     before he'd do God's work," Colabuno says, jamming his forefinger
     into his palm...

     A skinny man at the back of the pack speaks up, telling Colabuno
     that the Americans are just here to take Iraq's oil. "Yeah, you're
     right. We want your oil," Colabuno answers. Again eyes grow big
     with surprise. "We want to buy it. So you can pay for jobs, for
     water, for electricity. Make you rich." The men chuckle. Everyone
     shakes hands. Askeri's alligator quota is filled by the next
     morning.

   Compare Colabuno's hearts and minds efforts to Karen Hughes'
   [2]pathetic efforts..

   ...Or our [3]State Department's simply [4]pathetic [5]existence

   As Father Samir Khalil Al-Yasou'i, said*:

     There's no doubt that among the countries that violate human rights
     the most, one finds China and Saudi Arabia. This is well known. But
     this constitutes cowardice on the part of the Western world. They
     dare not say a word to Saudi Arabia, because they need the Saudi
     oil and money. So they keep quiet. This is cowardice.

   From what I've seen, In the Arab world, displays of cowardice are
   treated with contempt. There's a real 'I dare you' culture over there,
   I guess because it is a boy's club (no girlz allowed). If you chicken
   out, they don't respect you.

   That was one of many things they got right in "Lawrence of Arabia" The
   Arab fighters respected Lawrence, not just because he was an Arabist
   and a decent tactician. They also admired him because he was fearless,
   verging on reckless.

   When Arab leaders and/or 'radicals' push us, we appease, we cajole and
   negotiate. "Deferential to the point of looking weak, or just
   condescending" has been the basis of our foreign policy in the Middle
   East for decades. No wonder they have so little respect for us.

   Our diplomats are like the joggers in LA who get eaten by mountain
   lions. Yes, the West is at the top of the food chain, but we don't act
   the part. Instead of standing our ground, we cower and act like prey.
   Therefore, we're treated like prey.

   Our military and men like Colabuno are doing their best to undo the
   damage that the idiots in the State Department have done for years.

   Guess who gets paid more. As 'the people' who control what our
   government does and who pay their salaries, shouldn't we do something
   about that?

References

   1. http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/15-12/ff_futurewar?currentPage=1
   2. http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=26683&only&rss
   3. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=060203161134.7zd6bpnp&show_article=1
   4. http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ODc0MzU5ODk3Mjg1YTY2MmMxMTBmMTE0ZmQ2NDcxOGE=
   5. http://www.counterpunch.org/smith07182007.html