The American Spectator

Colonel, USMCR (Ret.) br> Quantico, Virginia /p>

Valid analysis and insight. Would to God that certain people had understood Rule #1: Allow (and encourage) the Iraqis to stand up for themselves. This means one thing that certain Americans understand: guns.

The possession of weapons means the ability to protect yourself, your family, your neighborhood…. Coalition Forces’ policy in Iraq was that a family could possess one AK-47 assault rifle, two 30 round magazines, and 60 cartridges per “head of household.” There might be an older father and numerous grown sons in the house, but only one weapon was allowed. The weapon must remain in the house. It may not be in a vehicle. It may not be carried in public. It may not be kept in a place of business. Pistols and any weapon other than an AK-47 were confiscated, even if the weapon was an obsolescent predecessor of the AK-47. (This is no way to win hearts and minds.) The Iraqis don’t have access to gun shops, where they can buy these things either.

As soon as I heard about this policy, I knew it was going to get somebody killed. Sure enough, during one of my interrogations, I heard an account of a family of one tribe, who were trying to do just what Jeff Emanuel said. They were attacked and killed by terrorists. The armed members of the family expended their prescribed 60 rounds per rifle, and then they were overrun and killed by their attackers.

Another time, an Iraqi told me of a coworker of his. They were gasoline truck drivers. His coworker was missing, and the truck was stopped many miles away in Baghdad, and his friend was not in it. This man asked me for permission to carry a weapon in his truck. I did not have the authority to do so. I asked my Captain, who also did not have the authority. So, gasoline truck drivers are helpless against the terrorists. I heard another anecdote on this very subject.

The dumbest thing that I heard during my time in Iraq was when a fellow interrogator told an Iraqi detainee that in America we have something called “Neighborhood Watch,” where decent people get together and work against the criminal element and asked why the Iraqis did not do this. The Iraqi replied with the reason being that they had been disarmed by the Americans. I made eye contact with the detainee and smiled. (I almost laughed at the American stupidity. Also the phones usually do not work, and the Iraqi police usually cannot be trusted.)

p>Another reason the Iraqis have taken such a long time to begin to work together is that they are afraid, with good reason, to fully back the Coalition Forces. We might leave them high and dry, like we did in 1991. Or we might leave them high and dry after dark, and the terrorists might show up to make an example of them. br> — SPC Snuffy Smith br> Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2005-6 /p>

Contrary to the leftist “moon bats’” who say the surge is NOT working, I have the unassailable proof that, indeed, the surge IS working.

Well, two weeks ago our nearby city of Oakland, California chalked up 14 homicides in less than one weekend. The (deliberately) understaffed Oakland Police Department (fine officers working for a communist toad of a mayor) seemed unable to both serve and protect at the same time in the face of massive sectarian violence — a veritable civil war between warring tribal gangs.