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May
11
2008
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Monday, 12 May 2008 |
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As a producer (among other titles) of the Outside the Wire documentary series, people often ask me the difference between our documentaries about Iraq and other documentaries.
I tell people that JD embeds long term with our troops...he never just goes in, gets some soundbites and goes somewhere else. I usually add the story about the News Director who told me, after we sent him a tape, that JD's footage should have been shot using a tripod...yeah, like JD's going to set up a tri-pod in the middle shootout in Nasser wa Saalam. The News Director didn't get the whole 'this is actual combat in Iraq' thing.
But, just the other day, I found another answer to that question people often ask me. The difference is neatly summed up in a quote from this GQ article about Errol Morris' documentary about Abu Ghraib prison, Standard Operating Procedure .
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May
08
2008
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Friday, 09 May 2008 |
Entire High Value Target lists will be captured, incarcerated, interrogated, executed...or shot on sight.
But it will make little difference over the course of time. I have seen this with my own eyes.
The cemetaries of the world are filled with indespensible men and an insurgency is filled with despinsible men.
Pressure must be placed on insurgent networks and personnel. The insurgents must be hunted and disrupted. But the capture or killing of one or a few or many is not the goal.
The goal is to eliminate the insurgency's ability to operate.
Much in the way that the killing of Pablo Escobar did not eliminate or slow down the cocaine trade, the capture of the latest insurgent leader will not stop the terror and mayhem.
In the cocaine business, the potential for profit is to high for the vacuume not to be filled.
For the insurgent, it is the same, but the currency is the success of the movement.
The better allocation of resources is in those tactics that deny the insurgency the ability to succeed, rather than targetting successful insurgents.
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May
06
2008
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Tuesday, 06 May 2008 |
Build a fence, a short fence.
Once you know who lives in a village or neighborhood, control the flow of people in and out through a physical barrier.
The regulation will be that the only way in and out will be through a designated gate(s). People leaving and exiting will be compared against the list of residents.
Those who are not supposed to be in the village or neighborhood will not be able to use the designated gate. They will have to cross the fence.
Make sure the fence is short enough to be crossed. You want people to able to jump the fence so you know who to target, track and observe. They will lead you to the insurgents.
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