Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “"Softly Softly" Accuses U.S. of "Harshly Harshly"”

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January 11, 2006

"Softly Softly" Accuses U.S. of "Harshly Harshly"

Hatched by Dafydd

Does anyone else see the irony in this Reuters story, British officer blisters US Army in Iraq critique?

The U.S. Army has displayed damaging cultural insensitivity in Iraq, while being blinded by unrealistic optimism and predisposed to use maximum force, a senior British officer wrote in a blistering appraisal in a U.S. military publication.

The essay by British Army Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster, who served with U.S. forces in Iraq from December 2003 to November 2004, appeared in the latest edition of the magazine Military Review, published by the U.S. Army.

(Just as an aside, was it culturally sensitive enough of us to allow Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster to hock and spit in our own Army publication? Would the Brits have returned the favor?)

The British Army's primary area of responsibility has been southern Iraq, and in particular, Basra Province. But Basra is precisely the area where Iranian-backed Shiite militias have taken over the police forces, right under the noses of the Brits.

Back in September, pro-Iranian militiamen in Basra kidnapped two British soldiers and held them hostage. In a daring and successful raid that defied the normal "softly, softly" approach by Great Britain -- hence, in all likelihood, was planned and executed at a level below flag rank -- British troops stormed the Basra police station to rescue their comrades. They discovered they had been moved to the militia headquarters in the city; so the troops then stormed that location and successfully rescued the hostages, killing several Shiite terrorists and arresting others in the process.

Whereupon the British government promptly apologized to the Iran-connected city council and agreed to pay extortion money to keep the council from instigating an anti-British riot. (The AP links have expired, alas; but they can probably be resurrected via Google's cache facility, if one is so inclined.) As we reported back in October:

The joint statement said: "We regret the incidents that took place in Basra on 19 September 2005 at the Serious Crimes Unit.

"We also regret the casualties on both sides and the material damage to public facilities.

"The British government is prepared to pay valid claims for compensation for casualties and material damage in the well-established manner."

The British "softly, softly" policy -- which is just chock-full of cultural sensitivity, brimming over with European pessimism (sorry, "realism"), and predisposed to humbly apologize for any use of force against the enemy -- has been by and large a disaster. They allowed Iranian controlled militias and actual Iranian agents to infiltrate Iraq all the way from Basra to Sadr City; they were next to useless in dealing with Muqtada Sadr; and they wasted a lot of time and squandered moral clarity by complaining that American troops were "insensitive" by, e.g., wearing helmets instead of berets.

I have heard from many sources that the ordinary British soldiers and the junior to mid-level officers are terribly frustrated by their weak posture and wish that their own brigadiers had as much spine as ours... or even as much as their own majors and colonels.

Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster is a textbook example of what is wrong with Europe today -- and of how creeping Euroism is making significant inroads into Great Britain's military, particularly at the senior officer (political) level.

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, January 11, 2006, at the time of 2:31 PM

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Comments

The following hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist

Sorry about not caring what someone from another nation has to say about my Nation, and so i shall shift to what Samuel “*BIG* Gavel” Alito said about using the input of foreign nations to decide what the Constitution of America is about...basically, the Founders of America would be "shocked" that a Supreme Court Justice would use foreign law...so to speak.

The above hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist at January 11, 2006 3:17 PM

The following hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist

banachspace,

You still around, hiding, lurking, or gone???

i used to be brainwashed by what i read in MSM, but i was not stupid or braindead.

Talk to me, and i will allow you to call me "Karmi"...

KårmiÇømmünîs†

The above hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist at January 11, 2006 3:36 PM

The following hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist

banachspace,

Is *THIS* what you would like to see others to cause your Wife to do???

KårmiÇømmünîs†

The above hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist at January 11, 2006 3:44 PM

The following hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist

Earth to banachspace...

The above hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist at January 11, 2006 6:27 PM

The following hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist

Earth to banachspace...Kommander Karmi kalling.

The above hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist at January 11, 2006 7:20 PM

The following hissed in response by: RBMN

I think the Iraqis rather like to see criminals and terrorists blown up, as long as it's done fairly. The Iraqis have a lot in common with native Texans in that respect. I think we're better at being Texans than the Brits are.

The above hissed in response by: RBMN at January 11, 2006 9:11 PM

The following hissed in response by: Panther33

LOL. Maybe if Aylwin-Foster had some CULTURAL SENSITIVITY he'd know that Americans don't like to patronized by Brits with hyphenated names.

The above hissed in response by: Panther33 at January 12, 2006 10:24 PM

The following hissed in response by: Stephen M. St. Onge

Dafydd:

If you want to really see what's wrong with Europe today, see Timothy Garton Ash's piece on Iran in The Guardian, here.

The basic message: European diplomacy having failed to stop Tehran's quest for nukes, the U.S. and Israel must get together with Europe for . . . well, he can't bring himself to make any suggestions about what we do next. But he is sure we have to be united in doing whatever, and that we musn't use force.

It's bad enough to suggest cowardly policy out of a lack of nerve, as Brigadier Aylwin-Foster does, but Garton Ash can't even work up the nerve to state his real policy, which works out to 'Hope for a miracle, and if it doesn't occur, let the Ayatollahs have nukes.'

Pathetic.

The above hissed in response by: Stephen M. St. Onge at January 13, 2006 4:50 PM