U.S. finds a way to pacify Iraqi town — by using cash

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

JURF AL SAKHR, Iraq — In this desolate tiny town in what was once called the Triangle of Death, signs of the violent past mix oddly with evidence of today's more tranquil life.

Large plots of land emptied by car bombs sit next to refurbished buildings. A new water treatment plant looks out to blast walls that haven’t been necessary for months. A newly opened clothes shop is next to one that's been shut for ages.

The U.S. calls this former al Qaida stronghold a paragon of post-surge Iraq. Violence has come to a near-standstill. Yet the government that's emerged is far from the democratic republic that the Bush administration once promised.

The town is run by deals among its anointed leaders, nearly all of them former Sunni Muslim insurgents. None was elected. No one pays any mind to what might be happening in Iraq’s Shiite-dominated parliament in Baghdad. In fact, residents assume that the elected central government will never help them.

...

But not all the troops are happy. They see their leadership conceding too much to a group that can be bought too easily. They describe going to the homes of people who were launching attacks against them a few months ago. “Personally, I think we gave up too much. As soon as money goes away, this will all end,” said one soldier who has worked in Jurf al Sakhr.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/21406.html

.. would have been cheaper.

Bomb 'em with money, junk food, Gap clothes, DVD players, "R" rated movies, beer, soft porn magazines, X-boxes... all the stuff that would divert the Iraqis from any sort of meaningful resistance to the corporate takeover of their country.

That plan has worked very well here in Murika.

At least that way ordinary Iraqis could get
some benefit for all they have suffered from
their 'liberation'

managing a lot of oil reserves.

Perish the thought that Iraqis be allowed to
export oil without the US Marines giving the OK

sabra

But, what wil happend when the money is stoped?:. Someone thinking about that?

Diclotican

Sorry my bad engelish, not my native langauge

everyone, left and right, creating a false economy and false alliances. There was no way 30,000 extra troops were going to suddenly bring calm and control to Iraq--no, the real story is millions and millions of dollars being used to bribe citizens not to kill our soldiers. Follow the money, not the military tactics--that's the whole secret of the "surge".