Tribe of Al-Ameriki
Al-Ameriki tribe as we speak is sitting down with the Persians. More on that later. Meanwhile, some light Iraq reading.
McCallister, IIMEF’s tribal advisor in Anbar with four years behind him, at SWJ on counterinsurgency in a tribal society:
We are and have been a major if not the major “tribe” for the last four years … We are engaged in a counterinsurgency in a tribal society. It has taken us four years to realize that we must execute operations within the existing cultural frame of reference. To quote T.E. Lawrence - Irregular warfare is more intellectual than a bayonet charge.
He follows today with a view of al-Qaeda as a tribal target.
Other good SWJ reads:
NYT’s Burns on Charlie Rose. Someone tell NYT ed board:
But the one thing I think that virtually all of us who - who work here or have worked here for any length of time agree is that the levels of violence would eclipse by quite a long way the bloodshed we’ve seen to date.
Well, I think, quite simply that the United States armed forces here — and I find this to be very widely agreed amongst Iraqis that I know, of all ethnic and sectarian backgrounds — the United States armed forces are a very important inhibitor against violence. I know it’s argued by some people that they provoke the violence. I simply don’t believe that to be in the main true.
Guns and Brains, excerpted from the New Yorker:
I grew up during the Vietnam era and belong to a generation of educated liberals who came of age with a visceral dislike of the military. In the seventies and eighties, it was almost a reflex on Ivy League university campuses, where officer training was sometimes banned, to regard anyone in uniform as funny, if not sinister. At the same time, on military bases, anti-intellectualism became a badge of honor, a subscription to The New Yorker the mark of an oddball, and the words “liberal” and “academic” terms of abuse.
Here’s a crude generalization: after the sixties, intellect and patriotism went separate ways, to the detriment of both.
Topics: Iran, Iraq, al qaeda, media
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:33 am on Tuesday, July 24, 2007
4 Responses to “Tribe of Al-Ameriki”
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July 24th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
He’s assuming a stronger connection between intellect and intellectualism than actually exists.
July 24th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
There is only a very casual relationship between intellect and self appointed intellectuals.
July 24th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
I agree with the comments as to a separation between intellect and intellectualism.
Although it is undoubtedly true that, relative to 2003, the US must necessarily better understand and acknowledge how Iraqis work (and how that might diverge from a “western” orientation or mindset), I would still not want to rely (exclusively or mainly) on “think tank” explanations and solutions for working our way through the very complicated set of dynamics known as Iraq. Or, for that matter, the near, middle and far east in general.
“Paul Bremer, former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, was referred to by Iraqi Sheikhs seeking an audience to pledge their loyalty and seeking patronage as the “Sheikh of Sheikhs” ”
P. Bremer was a very poor choice for post invasion Iraq, sheikh credentials or not.
July 25th, 2007 at 4:48 am
The problem with many Think Tanks is that the people doing the thinking are rationalists. A rationalist begins with his axiom and deduces his conclusions. Proper reason begins with the facts of reality, and continually refers back to reality to make sure that the focus remains on what is. This is why the inaptly named “realists” never were. The consequences of their trumped-up reality have been deadly–literally.