Re: IRAQ: Predictable catastrophes of human stupidity

From: JAY DUGGER (duggerj1@charter.net)
Date: Thu Apr 10 2003 - 22:06:02 MDT

  • Next message: John K Clark: "Re: Predictable catastrophes of human stupidity"

    >-- On Thu, 10 Apr 2003 22:44:46 -0400
      "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" <sentience@pobox.com> wrote:
    [snip stuff correctly preceded by a useful subject line]
    >
    >
    >Why is it that US troops aren't stopping the looting? It
    >seems like a very poor sign of things to come, but
    >perhaps there is a good explanation I am not familiar
    >with.
    >

     From the DoD Dictionary of Military Terms
    (http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/data/p/04019.html)

    phases of military government
    (DOD) 1. assault--That period which commences with first
    contact with civilians ashore and extends to the
    establishment of military government control ashore by the
    landing force. 2. consolidation--That period which
    commences with the establishment of military government
    ashore by the landing force and extends to the
    establishment of control by occupation forces. 3.
    occupation--That period which commences when an area has
    been occupied in fact, and the military commander within
    that area is in a position to enforce public safety and
    order. See also civil affairs; military occupation.

    Granted definitions and plans differ, but news makes me
    think the coalition forces still work at controlling and
    consolidating Iraq. So coalition forces haven't yet
    started occupation, and aren't "in a position to enforce
    public safety and order."

    Please remember military police count as a very small
    subset of the military proper, and even then they exist to
    enforce discipline within the military more than to do the
    same sort of work as civilian law enforcement. Soldiers
    and Marines do not make very good police. They train with
    very different tools and techniques for very different
    ends. Expecting military servicemembers to keep order in
    Iraq isn't reasonable. A police force made up only of SWAT
    teams would stand a better chance of doing so, and would
    still fail.

    This explanation might make clear why looting continues.
    Your local university or college ROTC program could
    probably give you a better answer. See
    http://www.armyrotc.gatech.edu/people/cadre.html

    Jay Dugger
    http://www.vibepusher.com/~jdugger
    You will go far. Start now.



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Thu Apr 10 2003 - 22:15:23 MDT