Mary Ellen Cohane

                                                                                                 60 Marietta Street

                                                                                                North Adams,  MA  01247

                                                                                                (413) 664-8669                                                                                                                                                                                             January 11, 2007. 

 

To the Editors,

  

     Is there a good way for the U.S. to leave Iraq?  Yes. 

 

     There has already been a pilot program developed by Colonel H.R. McMaster, who was stationed in Tal Afar, Iraq, in 2004.  McMaster used classic techniques of fighting insurgencies which the British used in exiting Malaya in the nineteen-forties and fifties. First and foremost, these techniques begin with seeing counterinsurgency warfare as "twenty per cent military, and eighty per cent political."  The focus of operations is on the civilian population.  In the case of Iraq, this would mean having U.S. force leaders work very closely with local Iraqi leaders to supply the most pressing needs of the population for food, water, healthcare, and security in a way that doesn't involve arming new people.

     This can work best if there is a firm end date when American forces are bound to leave, and we call on Congress to take charge of this issue, and legislate such an withdrawal date.  This would give some motivation the Iraqi people to cooperate with American forces.  In the meantime, American officers need to have enough training in McMaster's techniques to change the way their troops interact with Iraqis. These are clearly described in George Packer's article "The Lesson of Tal Afar" which is available on the web at <newyorker.com>.  McMaster's techniques involve, first, immediately stopping night raids in people's houses and violence at checkpoints. Next: finding the best translators possible to make courtesy calls on local leaders, whoever they may be, to develop a relationship with them, and to listen to them carefully before developing ideas on to withdraw in such a way as to leave local district in a position to rebuild.  A local populace in which the people, particularly young people, have tangible proof that better times are coming, and tangible ways to make money and obtain the things they need by engaging in such projects as fixing wells, fixing generators, and distributing food, and who feel physically protected by a known local leader, is a populace that can withstand the urge to violence.   As McMaster told New Yorker reporter George Packer, our experience in Tal Afar shows that "when Iraqis can count on a basic level of safety and security, they can live together peacefully." 

 

     Such a program worked for American forces leaving the Philippines; and my studies in the Ph.D. program in culture and society at the University of Pennsylvania together with my fieldwork in Northern Ireland convince me that such a program will work in Iraq.

 

     Please support our Senator Edward Kennedy as he works with Congress to demand accountability about the running of this war.  We can end it by May 1.  We can start right now by writing, calling, or e-mailing our support of Kennedy's calling for this withdrawal date.  The Senator's telephone number is (202)-224-4543; e-mail is senator@kennedy.senate.gov

 

Sincerely,

 

Mary Ellen Cohane

North Adams, Massachusetts