Shock and Awe

I find myself a bit at a loss regarding the reports this week about the "surge" in Iraq. WSJ has reported widely this week that the surge, notably in Anbar province, has been accompanied by cash dispersals to the leaders of the tribes in provinces. While a little cash never hurts, it was shocking to me to find that the cash amounts to tens of MILLIONS of dollars in suitcases (dispersed by the Marines).

Let's just get this straight. The surge is being heralded by the right-ish press as being effective - but the cost is bribing the very people who were using the Marines (who are delivering the money in bundles) as target practice in the very recent past. So let's do a little experiment - let's cut off the cash and see if the "surge" is working. Very crafty of this administration to bring together a much heralded surge with a surge in cash to the leaders - this bribe effectively halting (temporarily) the dismemberment of American GIs.

It is disturbing to me on many levels that the bribes are in place now - and not years ago. Years ago we could be waging and economic war to placate the factions that might be lulled, flush with cash, into getting along with each other and supporting the central government. But the current development is taking place as a direct payment (under the table) from the US to the terrorists. Perhaps the tribesmen are not true terrorists, rather they are playing the sides against the middle, but if I had a son or daughter who was killed in Anbar a year ago - what would be a reasonable reaction?

This is organized crime - effectively a Mob style operation. I give you money and you give me cover. It would be remiss of me to say that this is not the prevailing model in the Mideast. Egypt is paid money every year (and no closer to democracy than in the 70s) via "foreign aid" to leave Isreal alone, overtly. Jordan is in the same boat. Our fair Jimmy Carter set this up and it has been carried on for decades by both parties.

We can pick out other clear examples of our money going to bribe good "overt" behavior while failing to scratch the surface. Saudi Arabia and Venezuala are paramount in this regard. Why do we fail to translate a clear message to these two totalitarian states (one a monarchy and the other a facist/populist state) as we did with South Africa and its segregationist past? Or Pakistan with its military dictatorship?

I find it very taxing to feel compelled to be nationalistic about the US when our actions are so clearly antagonistic to the pursuit of democracy. Should we buy oil from the nationalized Saudi oil congolmerate? Should we buy refined gasoline from Venezuala when they have such clear Marxist tendancies? Should we continue to pay Egypt to behave when they have been in a "state of emergency" for the past 20+ years?

These tendencies of the government to harbor antagonistic states and coddle them while also denouncing Iraq, Iran, N Korea, et al. strikes me as peculiar. But more peculiar is the fact that the same Marines who were being shot at last year in Anbar are now delivering cash to the tribal leaders who now are our "allies".

The surge in Iraq is masquerading as a mob-style operation to buy time. It is no coincidence that the violence has tempered dramatically while the cash payments (in suitcases) have increased.

Ought we bribe the Iraqis??? Well if it was a good idea, it would have happened at the opening of the war, right? Or is the bribery a clear sign that we need cover, for a time, to get through 2008?

Neither party in government has taken this on in a clear way or offered a clear path. But if we have to bribe our enemies in Iraq, as we do around the globe (China anyone??), ought we just say that this is the only way forward in a rough and tumble world. Extortion like this occurs only in the vacuum, much like the mob operates.

Home of the free and land of the brave? I fear it is much more capitalistic than that. Such altruistic thoughts are better left in speeches.