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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Iraq's Allawi Extends Arms-For-Cash Plan |
| 2004-10-19 |
| Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi announced plans Monday to extend a cash-for-weapons program for Shiite fighters in Baghdad's Sadr City to cities nationwide in an attempt to disarm the country. The announcement of plans to extend the weapons-for-cash program came as fresh violence erupted in Baghdad and Mosul. The government launched the program in Sadr City as part of a deal to end weeks of fighting in the Shiite district of Baghdad and has twice extended the deadline for fighters to hand in their weapons. On Monday, Allawi told the National Council, a government oversight body, that the program is going so well he wants to extend it to the rest of Iraq. ``The government is determined to disarm cities and neighborhoods because our forces are now ready to fight terrorists and there's no justification for people to keep weapons at home,'' Allawi said. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #10 If we are watching the borders well, they supply of replacements should dry up. Haaahahahaha, you're kidding, right? Its not a question of honor, but of interest. Many of the "insurgents" are part timers, casuals, who may be willing to turn from the insurgency. And if they are no longer insurgents, they have no reason to want heavy weapons,.. That "interest" can easily change with the direction of the winds. Their interest != the interest of the country as a whole. If it were, the current situation would likely look, feel, and be much different. Do you really think drug dealers, etc necessarily have more honor and integrity than Iraqis, even Sadrist insurgents? Drug dealers are not likely to turn in their weapons for cash, not when more cash can be had above and beyond a meager little payout by simply plying their trade and ignoring silly little inducements like a guns-for-cash scheme. Rebels in Iraq can turn in RPGs, mortars, or whatever for cash, then go dig up some more someplace else. As a result, Ta Daaah! They end up with cash AND weapons! |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-10-19 5:24:03 PM |
| #9 And what does that prove? Unless the country can be sealed off so that nothing contraband gets in (not an easy thing to do, apparently) and every known cache of weapons is seized and carted off by the proper personnel, how can anyone know that there isn't more coming in or being dug up to replace what's being turned in? What's more, those arms don't fire themselves; the users are what sets them off. Without accounting for the people behind the triggers (leaving them in place to wait for a more opportune time to scramble the mix once again instead of taking them out permanently), how is there real, long-term security? I suppose a good indicator would be to see what happens after this bombs-and-bullets-for-cash program is done - do attacks on coalition forces, Iraqi police and their recruits, and innocent bystanders drop off sharply? If this happens, maybe it's worth something. If it doesn't, well.......I sure as hell won't be holding my breath. There's not much of a reason to put any faith in human goodwill in that part of the world where the enemy (terrorists, rebels, insurgents, or whatever you wish to call them) is concerned. It's only another weakness with which to use against us and our allies. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-10-19 4:53:34 PM |
| #8 1. In the US the weapons being turned in are mainly small arms, which are easy to reacquire. The weapons of concern in Iraq are NOT side arms, or even Kalishnikovs, which are ubiquitous, but RPGs, mortars, etc things which we are attempting to stop from being present in the country. If we are watching the borders well, they supply of replacements should dry up. 2. Its not a question of honor, but of interest. Many of the "insurgents" are part timers, casuals, who may be willing to turn from the insurgency. And if they are no longer insurgents, they have no reason to want heavy weapons,while small arms probably remain useful in an American slum 3. Do you really think drug dealers, etc necessarily have more honor and integrity than Iraqis, even Sadrist insurgents? |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-10-19 4:24:46 PM |
| #7 AP "We knew there would be thousands, but it's a staggering amount when you see it. We are digging ammunitions out of areas on a day-to-day basis, it's absolutely amazing," said Major General Peter Chiarelli, head of the First Cavalry Division, in charge of security in Baghdad. The amount of arms turned in has gained serious momentum since Friday, he said, on what was originally meant to be the last day of the arms-for-cash programme that has buoyed hopes for a peaceful end to months of fighting in the Shiite slum of Sadr City. Prime Minister Iyad Allawi announced Monday an extension of the arms buyback in the impoverished Shiite district until Thursday. "The Sadr bureau told us that there's been a thousand IEDs (homemade bombs) turned in," Chiarelli said. Chiarelli touted the bounty of rockets, artillery shells and mortars being hauled in, as it made the squalid slum, where US troops and Sadr's men have battled for months, much safer. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-10-19 4:19:58 PM |
| #6 Its just a knee jerk response to something that sounds like liberal domestic policy. Given the fact that it doesn't work here in the U.S., where our citizens no doubt have a lot more integrity and honor than Iraqi insurgents, a similar result in Iraq to a similar policy is not an unreasonable expectation. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-10-19 3:02:43 PM |
| #5 Oh, so youre not going on real info about whats being turned in, what gets in across the borders, what the real weapons situation in Iraq is. Its just a knee jerk response to something that sounds like liberal domestic policy. Gotcha. On to the next topic. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-10-19 12:47:39 PM |
| #4 Coming right up... Midnight Basketball. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-10-19 12:22:59 PM |
| #3 This is going to have the same effect as the guns-for-cash BS that has been tried here at home, which is little to none. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-10-19 12:18:58 PM |
| #2 Cite that theyre ONLY getting obsolete weapons? |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-10-19 9:42:13 AM |
| #1 how many more damaged RPG launchers and long guns does Allawi want to buy so that the $$ can be used to purchased new ones. Makes no sense to me. |
| Posted by: RN 2004-10-19 7:21:27 AM |