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"The U.S. military has long sought an agreement with Baghdad that gives American forces virtually unfettered freedom of action, casting into doubt the Bush administration [12]'s current claims that their demands are more limited," concludes the National Security Archive [13]'s analysis of recently declassified documents. In a 2003 cable, then-Coalition Provisional Authority [14] head Paul Bremer [15] wrote that any agreement with the future government of Iraq [16] must give U.S. forces authority "to detain, intern, and interrogate"; "to retain custody of current POWs / detainees / internees"; and "unlimited authority to conduct military operations." Bremer added that U.S. personnel, including military contractors [17], "must be accorded ... full criminal immunity and immunity from civil process for official acts." In related news, the Wikileaks website [18] has published what it says is "a sensitive U.S. military counterinsurgency manual." The document [19] points to U.S. involvement in El Salvador [20] and elsewhere in describing how to control foreign populations. Suggested tactics include martial law [21], censorship, psychological operations [22], supporting "civilian self-defense forces" and persuading "individuals among the general populace to become informants," by using as motives "civic-mindedness, patriotism, fear, punishment avoidance, gratitude, revenge or jealousy, financial rewards."
Links:
[1] http://dev.prwatch.org/users/6/diane-farsetta
[2] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/war-peace/iraq
[3] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/war-peace/terrorism
[4] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/democracy
[5] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/human-rights
[6] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/international
[7] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/propaganda
[8] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/secrecy
[9] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/us-government
[10] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/war-peace
[11] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fdev.prwatch.org%2Fspin%2F2008%2F06%2F7456%2Fhow-not-win-friends-and-influence-people&linkname=How%20Not%20to%20Win%20Friends%20and%20Influence%20People
[12] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bush_administration
[13] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/National_Security_Archive
[14] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Coalition_Provisional_Authority
[15] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Bremer
[16] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Iraq
[17] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Private_Military_Corporations
[18] http://wikileaks.org/wiki/US_Special_Forces_counterinsurgency_manual_leaked
[19] http://wikileaks.org/wiki/US_Special_Forces_counter-insurgency_manual_FM_31-20-3
[20] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/El_Salvador
[21] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/martial_law
[22] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/psychological_operations
[23] http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB252/index.htm