Av alla artiklar jag läst om Irakkriget har ingen varit så skakande, så mångsidigt avslöjande, och så bottenlöst deprimerande, som denna i New York Times:

Tough New Tactics by U.S. Tighten Grip on Iraq Towns

"American soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire.

In selective cases, American soldiers are demolishing buildings thought to be used by Iraqi attackers. They have begun imprisoning the relatives of suspected guerrillas, in hopes of pressing the insurgents to turn themselves in.

The practice of destroying buildings where (...) insurgents are suspected of planning or mounting attacks has been used for decades by Israeli soldiers in Gaza and the West Bank. The Israeli Army has also imprisoned the relatives of suspected terrorists, in the hopes of pressing the suspects to surrender.

The Israeli military has also cordoned off villages and towns thought to be hotbeds of guerrilla activity, in an effort to control the flow of people moving in and out."

Och vi vet ju alla hur framgångsrik den taktiken varit för att lösa konflikten?

"American officials say they are not purposefully mimicking Israeli tactics, but they acknowledge that they have studied closely the Israeli experience in urban fighting. (...)

'Experience continues to teach us many lessons, and we continue to evaluate and address those lessons, embedding and incorporating them appropriately into our concepts, doctrine and training,' Brig. Gen. Michael A. Vane wrote. 'For example, we recently traveled to Israel to glean lessons learned from their counterterrorist operations in urban areas.' General Vane is deputy chief of staff for doctrine concepts and strategy, at the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command."

Så man spelar upp en ny repris på just den konflikt som utgjort själva bränslet för de terrorister som spränger västvärldens kontorspalats, synagogor, banker, ambassader och konsulat ...

Lägg till detta en dos etnologisk expertis:

"'You have to understand the Arab mind,' Capt. Todd Brown, a company commander with the Fourth Infantry Division, said as he stood outside the gates of Abu Hishma. 'The only thing they understand is force.'

"'With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them,' Colonel Sassaman said."

"These people" är invånarna i staden Abu Hishma, nu helt innesluten i taggtrådsstängsel, med en enda checkpoint för att ta sig in eller ut.

"'This fence is here for your protection,' reads the sign posted in front of the barbed-wire fence. 'Do not approach or try to cross, or you will be shot.'

Colonel Sassaman said he would maintain the wire enclosure until the villagers turned over the six men who killed Sergeant Panchot, though he acknowledged they may have slipped far away."

Repressalier mot civilbefolkningen är förstås förbjudna enligt Genevekonventionen - liksom tagande av gisslan (att ta släktingar till fånga), att förstöra civil egendom, och så vidare. Men då får man väl ändra på det då - för jag antar att det är vad general Sanchez, USAs högste militäre befälhavare i Irak, menar:

"Well, I guess what we need to do is go back to the laws of war and the Geneva Convention and all of those issues..."

Och hur reagerar den irakiska befolkningen på taktiken?

"Over to one side, an Iraqi man named Tariq muttered in anger.

'I see no difference between us and the Palestinians," he said. "We didn't expect anything like this after Saddam fell.'"

Gud hjälpe oss alla.

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