The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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Dirty Little Secrets
The Nightmare That Won't Go Away
by James Dunnigan
December 13, 2005
Discussion Board on this DLS topic
Sunni Arabs are becoming increasingly
nervous about their ability to remain in Iraq. To frequently paranoid
Sunni Arabs, it's already beginning. In western Iraq, the attacks
against terrorist strongholds, in Sunni Arab areas, continue. The
military pressure has been constant on the terrorists for most of the
year. The most recent attack force was smaller than earlier ones, with
400 U.S. marines and 150 Iraqi troops. But in addition to these joint
operations, there has been increasing Iraqi police activity in the
west. This also involves Iraqi army troops, and the latest version of
the Iraqi secret police.
All this is being applied to
Sunni Arabs who want to be back in power, with someone like Saddam
Hussein (a ruthless Sunni Arab who knows how to take care of his own),
back in charge. The current Iraqi security forces are dominated by
Kurds and Shia Arabs (who represent 80 percent of the population.) The
Iraqi security forces have evolved into a secret police. Most
Westerners forget, or never knew, that every Arab nation has a secret
police. Sort of a tradition, and a pretty nasty one. The secret police
make up their own rules as they go along. All this business of
constitutional protections and rule-of-law is alien to most Iraqis, as
they have never experienced it. But most Iraqis have experienced loss
at the hands of the Sunni Arab minority, want revenge, and are now
eager to repay their tormenters in the same coin. Much to the chagrin
of their American advisors, the Iraqi security troops are using
"traditional methods" against the Sunni Arab population. This includes
torture, arbitrary arrest, summary execution and holding people
indefinitely without charge.
It's surreal to hear
countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia and China complain about this,
especially since most Iraqis are eager to stop the Sunni Arab terrorism
any way they can. Saddam wasn't the only Iraqi to admire the way Russia
and China maintain order (more lawless secret police and arbitrary use
of law). To make matters worse, European media have a field day
exposing this "American backed" work of the Iraqi security forces, and
demand that the Sunni Arab minority be "protected" from the aggression
of the "illegal" American occupation force and the "illegitimate" Iraqi
government (which, while it represents the will of the Iraqi people,
does not properly deal with the desires of the Sunni Arab minority.) If
only those Americans would listen to the French, Germans and Russians,
and bring back Sunni Arab domination. Not Saddam, but someone like him.
And put American leaders on trial for committing the war crime of
upsetting the status quo. Everyone's an expert when it comes to Iraq,
but in the meantime, the situation is going to get worse.
The
Iraqi government is organizing a force of 10,000 police and soldiers to
launch a major attack on the terrorists (that is, the Sunni Arab
population) before and after the December 15th parliamentary elections.
The terrorists are playing into this by making more attacks on soft
targets (hospitals, mosques and, last week a crowd of women and
children receiving gifts of toys and candy from American soldiers.) The
terrorists are slowly learning there's a difference between terrorizing
a group, and just making them so angry that they will do great damage,
perhaps even wipe out, their tormenters. To the Sunni Arab neighbors of
Iraq, this has always been the ultimate nightmare. In the past, it
never seemed possible that the Sunni Arab population would be driven
from Iraq. But now, because of the Sunni Arab terrorism in Iraq, the
"religious cleansing" of Iraq is becoming a possibility. For that
reason, more and more Sunni Arab leaders, and even terrorist groups,
are making peace with the government.
But this arrangement
demands that the Sunni Arabs become active in fighting the terrorists.
Many Sunni Arab leaders are reluctant to do this, for the terrorists
have long gone after leaders who turn against them. Some are attacked
or killed every month. However, while the terrorist groups may be
reckless, many Sunni Arab leaders clearly see the patience of the Shia
Arab majority growing shorter. Cleansing Iraq of Sunnis becomes more of
a reality the longer the terrorists continue their attacks. You can
see this happening already, as Sunni and Shia Arabs separate from
villages and neighborhoods where they have long lived together, for
safety from terrorist attack. Unfortunately, this makes it easier for
Shia Arab and Kurdish secret police to surround exclusively Sunni Arab
areas and move the population out of the country. This is a nightmare
that many refuse to even acknowledge. But it's a common, if largely
suppressed, part of Middle Eastern history. It's happened before, it
can happen again.
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