HOW TO DEFEAT THE INSURGENCY

BY ITS OWN LETHAL WEAPON



George-Kotzabasis August 23, 2006



To expedite the defeat of the insurgents in Iraq the following proposal might make a practical contribution toward this major event.

My proposal is simple but a most effective method in identifying car bombs in time so civilians in urban areas will not be killed, as well as lead to the defeat of the insurgency in the mid-run.

The Iraqi government should immediately pass a law directing drivers that when they park their vehicles either the driver of the vehicle or at least one other person must be sitting in the front seat of the parked car. No standing or parked vehicle will be unoccupied. A vehicle that was abandoned by its driver and occupants would immediately be seen by nearby commuters and would instantly trigger their quick distancing from it, as they will consider it to be, more likely than not, a car bomb. Hence, when the terrorists exploded it by remote control or otherwise no civilian or military casualties would occur. Moreover, those abandoning the vehicle could be arrested on the spot, either by security forces, if they were in the vicinity, or even by the commuters, or be killed by the former if they were likely to be terrorists. Hence, a vehicle that was being abandoned by its occupants would instantly have the mark of death writ large on it and would immediately be seen by the vigilant eyes of “commuter watch”. The great advantage of such law would be that it can even be executed by ordinary citizens, and hence turn the latter into virtual “vigilantes”. Thus an important serendipitous side effect of such law will be to actively mobilize the whole nation of Iraq against the insurgents.

The insurgents, certainly, would try to overcome this by having as decoy a kidnapped passenger tied in the front seat of the vehicle. But this possibility could be thwarted by prescribing in the law that the passenger side-window of vehicles when they are parked should be pulled down, so when a passenger is a kidnapped one, he would be able to make known this to “by-walkers” close to the vehicle, as soon as the terrorist driver had left the car.

Of course, this method would not be effective against the suicide bomber who would be willing to lose his life by not abandoning the vehicle. Notwithstanding this however, the immediate result would be to diminish the number of car bombs by excluding the unattended vehicles of which many of them up to this point have been car bombs. And in the mid-term, the increased number of suicide bombers losing their lives by sitting in their cars will deplete the ranks of the hardcore fanatics.

Thus, by this practical method, the Iraqi government will substantially decrease the number of casualties among civilians and army personnel, that the insurgents continue to inflict by car bombs, as well as not before long dry the pool from which the insurgents are getting their suicide bombers. And hence by turning soon their most lethal weapon useless will irrevocably defeat the insurgency.