"The $urge Is Working!"

I want to make sure we are all on the same page when the Republicans and the military commanders say "The surge is working!"

Americans who support the war probably envision this influx of fresh young troops who heroically reinforced the beleaguered forces already in place who go from village to village, driving the Sunni insurgents from their hidey holes, destroying the ammo caches, dismantling the IEDs and triumphing over the Evil Doers!

While I don't take anything at all away from the brave soldiers who "surged" over there and did their jobs, they are not responsible for the decrease in violence in Iraq. They didn't kick the enemies ass into submission.

The "surge that is working" isn't the surge in U.S. force strength.

It's the surge in cold, hard, American dollars.

We are paying the Sunni insurgents to quit fucking with us. Your tax dollars are cutting checks worth about $300 a month to the same insurgents that were killing American soldiers.

The barrels of their AK-47s are still to warm to touch while they are spending your money.

A quick history lesson.

Saddam Hussein was a Sunni Arab. His Sunni Arab minority controlled and brutally oppressed the Shi'ite Arab majority as well as the Turkish Kurds in Iraq for decades. That is why he was considered a "bad man".

With me so far? Good.

We invaded Iraq, kicked Saddam's ass, killed him, killed his sons, fucked the country up beyond recognition and installed our own puppet Shi'ite government under Maliki and the Sunni insurgents, who used to be in power, sided with al Queda in Iraq and started fucking us up.

Still with me?

Now it's August 2006.

"By the summer of 2006, the insurgent group, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had deeply entrenched itself in Anbar province west of Baghdad. The relocation of U.S. military forces to the capital that summer contributed to the group’s gains, experts say. Col. Sean MacFarland, who commanded a U.S. combat team in the provincial capital of Ramadi that summer and helped initiate the Awakening movement...Alienated by a foreign-led, religiously zealous insurgency, Sheikh Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha approached MacFarland about shifting his allegiance to the United States. Thousands of Sunni civilians ultimately joined a U.S. alliance"

Let me put that in lay men's terms.

We went in to Iraq to throw out the bullies who had been stealing the Iraqi's lunch money.

After we threw them out of power, the bullies started beating US up because they didn't particularly like being thrown out of power. WTF? Who saw THAT coming? Nobody, right?

So after a few years of them killing us and us killing them, this Sheikh Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha gets an idea, approaches Col. Sean MacFarland and says "How's about you pay us not to kill you and maybe we'll help you kill somebody else? Deal?"

Thus is born "The Awakening" and "The Sons of Iraq".

This is what is responsible for the decrease in violence in Iraq.

This is what the Republicans mean when they say "the surge is working".

The United States of America is giving the local bully its lunch money so it won't get beat up anymore.

To the tune of $300.00 per month, per participant. There are an estimated 91,000 former Sunni insurgents, under contract to the United States, earning $300.00 a month, not to kill us.

That is about $16 million dollars a month of your tax dollars going directly into the hands of Iraqi Sunni insurgents with American blood on their hands.

So that "$600.00 Economic Incentive Check" you got...that is equal to about 10 tanks of gas for your car or 2 months pay, from the United States Government to an Iraqi insurgent who may have killed someone you know.

I'll give Bill Mahr the final say.



Footnotes:

Iraq's conflict is fueling a bitter Mideast split
Shiites vs. Sunnis By Amin Saikal Published: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2005

The 'Sons of Iraq' Keep the Peace February 05, 2008 02:45 PM ET

Council on Foreign Relations
The Role of the ‘Sons of Iraq’ in Improving Security
Author: Greg Bruno, Staff Writer
April 25, 2008