Iraq; Reconciliations

Dealing With Insurgents In Iraq, (FNC)…David Piper, July 16, 2008

…These are members of the 101st Airborne and they’re processing Iraqi suspects from the Balad area here in central Iraq. This is reconciliation Iraqi style. These men have simply walked in to this U.S. forward operating base to announce they want no part of the war anymore.

First of all, these men, who have been sponsored by a tribal leader, are read a ceasefire agreement. They then go through the identification process and their biometric data are taken. They are then urged to admit anything they’ve done. If they have charges to answer to, they will later have to appear before an Iraqi judge and he will decide if they are guilty or not. Up until now, the judges seem to have shown leniency in keeping with the new spirit of national unity and haven’t found any of the over 100 men who have come before them guilty. That is the carrot, but there’s also a very large stick.

All these individuals have been warned if they conduct any types of terrorist offences in the future, they’re likely to spend a very long time in the Iraqi jail. The 101st Airborne have had to make up these identification procedures as they go along. It’s helping them build an invaluable database of who’s who in the area and also a powerful tool to find individuals if they re-offend, and combining it with existing intelligence can unearth hidden treasure. As the soldiers slowly processed these individuals, they discovered among them the second and fourth most wanted men they have been after for months. Number two knows he’s a wanted man, but doesn’t know he’s among Balad’s most wanted.