Monday, December 20, 2004
Movement Control in Iraq: A Proposal
One of the primary problems afflicting "our side" in Iraq is the difficulty we have in controlling the movement of insurgents. Unlike insurgents of the past, most of this movement is by car or light truck. One example of the seriousness of the problem is the report that the insurgents regularly pay Iraqis for making attacks with money that is brought in regularly from Syria (from which much of the war is directed). Another example is the report of two very destructive suicide vehicle attacks in Najaf and Karbala yesterday. The assumption seems to be that the vehicles involved came from the southern edge of the "Sunni Triangle". Without knowing what measures are in place or planned to control such movement, let me make a suggestion.
We control the air, and with few trees in Iraq and little cloud cover, we could regularly and effectively see from the air every vehicle in Iraq, stationary or in movement. The proposal is to require that every vehicle in Iraq be required to be (1) registered and (2) have on its roof in paint that can be seen at night the registration number. After a month period during which all vehicles would have to be registered and emblazoned with their registration numbers, air reconnaissance could start rapidly building a data base containing the location of every vehicle in the country. Once this database is established, planes patrolling over the country, and especially along the more important ways in from Syria and above the road systems of the "Sunni Triangle" could establish the location of every vehicle, updating this regularly whenever movement is noted. It should be possible to gin up a computer program to distinguish standard movements from suspicious, reporting the latter down to units on the ground that could then check suspected vehicles. The use of false identification could be reduced by continuous monitoring that was able to note any vehicles that had unrecorded numbers or duplicate numbers. Vehicles operating not in accord with the law would be subject to impoundment.
Critics will raise many objections. The suggestion is certainly in need of many refinements, especially those that experience would suggest. In any event, the system would obviously be perfected over time.
We control the air, and with few trees in Iraq and little cloud cover, we could regularly and effectively see from the air every vehicle in Iraq, stationary or in movement. The proposal is to require that every vehicle in Iraq be required to be (1) registered and (2) have on its roof in paint that can be seen at night the registration number. After a month period during which all vehicles would have to be registered and emblazoned with their registration numbers, air reconnaissance could start rapidly building a data base containing the location of every vehicle in the country. Once this database is established, planes patrolling over the country, and especially along the more important ways in from Syria and above the road systems of the "Sunni Triangle" could establish the location of every vehicle, updating this regularly whenever movement is noted. It should be possible to gin up a computer program to distinguish standard movements from suspicious, reporting the latter down to units on the ground that could then check suspected vehicles. The use of false identification could be reduced by continuous monitoring that was able to note any vehicles that had unrecorded numbers or duplicate numbers. Vehicles operating not in accord with the law would be subject to impoundment.
Critics will raise many objections. The suggestion is certainly in need of many refinements, especially those that experience would suggest. In any event, the system would obviously be perfected over time.
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