Something Thom wouldn't post: Insurgents seeking exit strategy

[bryanthompson]

Fill in the blank: Good news in Iraq is bad news for _____

Original article here: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/7b2a3b4e-9d4e-11d9-a227-00000e2511c8.html

Many of Iraq's predominantly Sunni Arab insurgents would lay down their arms and join the political process in exchange for guarantees of their safety and that of their co-religionists, according to a prominent Sunni politician
...
Sharif Ali distinguishes many Sunni insurgents, whom he says took up arms in reaction to the invasive raids in search of Ba'athist leaders and other “humiliations” soon after the 2003 war, from the radical jihadist branch associated with Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Unlike Mr Zarqawi's followers, who are thought to be responsible for the big suicide bomb attacks on Iraqi civilian targets, the other Sunni insurgents are more likely to plant bombs and carry out ambushes against security forces and US troops active near their homes.

Sharif Ali said the success of Iraq's elections dealt the insurgents a demoralising blow, prompting them to consider the need to enter the political process

So, do we let the Sunni insurgents go back home and not track them down, or do we go after all of 'em?

[chibone_914]

Whaddya mean let go??? Hell no! Go after em'! Why go through all the trouble to hunt them down just to let them go? This isn't bass fishing folks. These anti-american *********s want the worst for us....

[350HP930]

Sound's like a request for a cease fire or however you want to define we will stop attacking you if you stop attacking us and political automonity.

Do you really think the US is going to agree to that?

Except for that fact that the insurgents are trying to negotiate a peaceful settlement, one that the US is certain to reject, how is this good news?

[bryanthompson]

It means that we're making enough progress to make them look for a way out. We're winning

[widebody911]

Yeah, it's worked for Israel, should work for us

[Joeaksa]

Kill them, otherwise they will breed and we will have more and more of them. Do it now...

JoeA

[CamB]

Yeah, make them fight to the death - that will win a few more hearts and minds

[dd74]

Nuke 'em! But make sure that Shiavo girl in Florida stays hooked up to her machinery - to kill her would be a sin.

[skipdup]

I wonder if it's better for them to fear us or like us?

Obviously, the NeoCon in me screams fear.

But on the flip side... I wonder, what would we need to do to make them like us? OTTOMH We'd need to end all support of any kind for Israel and end all "meddling" of any kind in ME affairs.

Also, would we all need to convert to Fundamentalist Islam? They (the insurgent types) take that pretty seriously, right?

What else would it take to make "them" like us?

- Skip

[dd74]

They'll never like us. Everything we stand for they dislike about us. I believe, even if we left Israel alone, they'd still hate us. But they sure like the oil money we give them.

[Overpaid Slacker]

Guys, as I've said all along, the only way to win the war on terror, whether in the national or global sense of the conflict, is to convince the other side they can't possibly win. You don't need to (and never could) exterminate all enemies, but you can get them to give up their militant/expansionist ways. Especially when they see that they can give up and join the winning side (Glenn Reynolds has written a bit on preference cascades, and it's very interesting stuff).

It sounds like this is happening with the insurgents. We didn't kill every Nazi, every Imperialist Japanese, every Confederate .. we won by convincing individuals that they would collectively lose and that they had something personal to gain by giving up their cause and joining the winning side before they were sacrificed in the name of their doomed cause.

JP