Terrorists, Insurgents, and Minutemen

Pat Lang has posted a great piece regarding the political furor in this country over the report that Iraq’s Shiite President was willing to grant amnesty to insurgents who killed American soldiers. The outrage expressed in this country is going to get more of our soldiers killed. This is insane. As Pat notes:

Some people in the United States find this possibility for peace to be unacceptable because the insurgents whom al-Maliki is negotiating with have been fighting American soldiers. The reasoning is that those insurgents are criminals and perhaps murderers and that they must receive criminal justice for their crimes.

This is a truly stupid attitude. It is true that the propaganda that has supported the war effort had described the insurgents as uniformly Jihadist and terrorist. The same propaganda has described them as criminals. This may have been useful in shaping public opinion in the United States over the last three years, but it is no longer useful. The coalition now confronts the need to assist the al-Maliki government in bringing together enough of the disparate factions in Iraq to build itself a support base which will enforce and maintain a peace that will justify the sacrifices soldiers have made in the war.

The United States has rarely, if ever, taken the position that mere service in war against itself constituted criminal behavior. In a few instances after World War II individuals were held accountable and punished for their personal culpability in “crimes against humanity,” “planning and waging aggressive war,” etc., but this sanction was not applied to the men who served in the ranks. Indeed, very senior officers were held blameless for their participation in the struggle.

It is axiomatic that peace must be made with enemies, not friends. If Iraqi insurgents who have fought and perhaps killed Iraqi and coalition soldiers are excluded from the possibility of reconciliation and amnesty, then who will be left to make peace with? The answer is simple. No one. That would mean that the war will go on and on and on. In that case it would prove impossible to withdraw coalition forces for a long time.

As we start the Fourth of July weekend we seem to have forgotten our own Minutemen, who using the criteria we apply in Iraq, would be considered terrorists. Why? They were insurgents, wore no uniforms, and conducted hit and run attacks on the “occupiers”, i.e. the British troops. It took our ancestors a few years to organize a real army.

So, we are unwilling to support a realistic political approach that might isolate the jihadist fighters. We are unwilling to deploy enough troops to Iraq to conduct an effective counter insurgency campaign. We simply leave our troops in harms way without a clear strategy for victory or peace. I suppose someone who has no family members in the military can celebrate a Happy Fourth with a clear conscience. For those who genuinely care about the troops, this takes the shine off of the celebration.

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Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder
of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm
that helps corporations and governments manage threats posed by
terrorism and money laundering. Mr. Johnson, who worked previously
with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s
Office of Counter Terrorism (as a Deputy Director), is a recognized
expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk
management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety
of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio,
ABC’s Nightline, NBC’s Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News,
and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for
publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York
Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and
aviation security around the world. Further bio
details.