Surprising origins of hope for Iraq

Strategy Page reports on the Americanization of Iraq:

October 23, 2008: Many Iraqis have become infatuated with the American military. Not just the efficiency with which they fight, but also how they go out of their way to avoid civilian casualties, and try to help Iraqis recover from decades of tyranny and terrorism. This doesn't get a lot of publicity, but it is changing Iraq on a fundamental level.

The new Iraqi Army wants to be just like their American counterparts. Iraqi military uniforms look very much like the U.S. ones. The weapons and vehicles are the same. And the Iraqis are emulating how U.S. troops move, as well as how they look. In combined operations, it's often difficult to tell, at a glance, who are the Americans, and who are the Iraqis. More than once, during a firefight, an American soldier dives for cover next to what he thinks is another G.I. But when he talks to the other "American", he comes face-to-face with an Iraqi face talking back to him in Arabic. Fortunately, both armies use the same hand signals (a form of sign language used during combat, when voice commands cannot be heard, or when you want to maintain silence.) So the two will communicate with hand signs and get on with the battle.

Read the rest at Strategy Page.

Comments

[LT Nixon]

The M-16/M-4 is considered a status symbol for the Iraqi Army as opposed to the AK-47, and the Iraqi Ministry of Defense is always trying to buy more of them.

[Smithington]

Strategypage.com is not a news site but rather a site that posts commentary on recent military and global news events. While their "articles" sound insightful, if you've been to site long enough, you'll realize that most of what is written is pure fantasy and almost everything the articles say turn out to be false. For one thing, they've been putting out weekly articles for the last three years spinning the latest news from Iraq as the final death-knell of the insurgency.

If you still think the site is "insighfull" and the "perfect anti-dote for the wide-eyed panic merchants parading as newscasters", consider this: James Dunnigan, the founder of the site and the person who writes most of the articles was drafted in the 60s and served as a rocket repair techincian for a missile battery (http://jimdunnigan.com/bio.htm). HE HAS NO OTHER MILITARY EXPERIENCE. Basically, by reading stragypage.com, you are reading the ramblings of a glorified missile mechanic.