Small Wars Journal

Hurting U.S. Efforts to Win Minds in Marja

Sun, 04/04/2010 - 6:56am
Hurting U.S. Efforts to Win Minds, Taliban Disrupt Pay - Richard A. Oppel, Jr., New York Times.

Since their offensive here in February, the Marines have flooded Marja with hundreds of thousands of dollars a week. The tactic aims to win over wary residents by paying them compensation for property damage or putting to work men who would otherwise look to the Taliban for support.

The approach helped turn the tide of insurgency in Iraq. But in Marja, where the Taliban seem to know everything - and most of the time it is impossible to even tell who they are - they have already found ways to thwart the strategy in many places, including killing or beating some who take the Marines' money, or pocketing it themselves.

Just a few weeks since the start of the operation here, the Taliban have "reseized control and the momentum in a lot of ways" in northern Marja, Maj. James Coffman, civil affairs leader for the Third Battalion, Sixth Marines, said in an interview in late March. "We have to change tactics to get the locals back on our side." ...

More at The New York Times.

Comments

Outlaw 7 (not verified)

Mon, 04/05/2010 - 2:53pm

Just a side comment:

This is a typical TTP of a true guerrilla war---question should be just how are the Marines going to counter a true guerrilla warfare TTP.

You can take all the BATs/HIIDES data you want, but when the local Taliban realize the importance behind the data usage they will be more than happy to "sign up" for BATs as it shows when they are checked they are a "valid" local village person making it so much easier to remain undected. Th is was NOt the case in Iraq as a number of the Sunni insurgents were always on the move between villages, towns, and cities and avoided BATs whenever possible.

Besides now the Taliban will use the reported Karzai anti US comments from this weekend and tell the locals--"see even you own President is wanting to side with us!" Makes it kind of hard for US/NATO IO to counter if one asks me.

JT (not verified)

Mon, 04/05/2010 - 1:42pm

Yes, Marines are doing BATS (bio-metric automated tool set) for all enrollies.

Does anybody know if the Marines are recording names, taking photos and doing retina scans when they are giving out the money? The article does not say.