Wednesday, November 28, 2012

General in the cop’s seat

Odierno needs to smartly balance policing with pacification

So the war that began on the pretext of denuclearising the Iraqi arsenal and dethroning a warmonger has now toned down to policing Al Qaeda. The recent change of guard in the coalition forces saw one learned General handing over the command to the other. With Saddam out of the picture and forces loyal to him either obliterated or incorporated into the Iraqi Army, General Raymond T. Odierno has responsibilities that befit a police chief. Analysts emphasise that as the Commanding General of Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I), Odierno’s primary responsibility is to tackle Al Qaeda gangs.

“It’s Al Qaeda in Anbar province that Odierno will be dealing with,” affirmed Theodore Karasik, the director (research and development) at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA), Dubai. Odierno lacks the brilliant academic credentials of General David Howell Petreaus but has a career replete with pragmatic accomplishments. As the commander of 4th Infantry Division, he quelled violence in the non-complying Sunni strongholds where Saddam drew his closest Baathist comrades from. His troops captured Saddam Hussein. He was called in to crush violence whenever and wherever it surged in the country.

Former ISI chief Assad Durrani had told this journalist earlier that Al Qaeda is an invisible force and is not tangible. If it’s a force, it’s a dreaded one. It has the shrewdness to elicit violent reprisals from the Shia community and maturity to understand that killing its own cadres only fulfills its objective. It has struck missiles in Iraq's neighbouring Hashemite Kingdom and has the potential to direct them to the richer Gulf Emirates.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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