Entry tags:

baghdad, guns, iraq

On the kidnapping of idiots
As some of you have heard, two Americans and one Briton were kidnapped from their Al Mansur, Baghdad, home yesterday.  Let me give you some important information about why these men were idiots, and why slownewsday and I are not.

• They had only one company guard.  When he didn't show up, they had none.


• Their guard was obviously local (didn't live with them).  Which means he had local loyalties.


• They had no other Iraqi staff to do things like go outside and turn on the generator.


• When they did go outside, they didn't secure the immediate street first.


• At least one of the idiots walked outside unarmed, leaving his submachine gun on the kitchen counter.

Here is what we do different:

• We have 10 guards on staff at all times.  They live with us.  They are Kurdish, from areas 200-400 km north.  They have no local loyalties at all - no friends, no family, no one to apply pressure here.  While it is always possible they could be compromised, it is far less likely.


• We have house staff to do all local things we need, like run the generators, shop, fuel the cars, etc.


• When we leave, the guards sweep the street and secure the immediate area.


• We are armed at all times.  On foot, with a pistol.  In a car, with an AK-47 as well.


• We now take two cars with at least 3 guards.  And we've appointed the most experienced and capable guards as our personal ones.

The people who were grabbed are the kind we refer to as "soft targets".  Anybody observing them for a few days could have planned and executed that raid.  Jayme and I are definitely "hard targets".  While attacks are getting more sophisticated here, we're responding in kind.  I feel safer in my Baghdad home than I did living in San Francisco.

Finally, remember that the reason attacks are getting more sophisticated is simple natural selection.  The stupid insurgents are already dead.  The attacks that we see now are the result of 1.5 years of surviving the fight, observing, and poking at the weak points.  While I don't believe we're infallible, I'm confident that my weak points are far harder than the next guy's.