Rings around Baghdad (and other cities) will bring peace in Iraq

The "surge" seems to be working. The jury is still out though. However all of us hope that peace will soon prevail in Iraq. There are some important aspects of military action under the "surge" scheme.

I think a study should be done to see the major aspects of the "Middle Eastern style" peace keeping. For the tribes throughout the region, stability is more important than freedom to travel. Commerce and other national systems are not up to the level of more urbanized societies, so people really don't need to move around the country on frequent basis.

That is why the whole middle East is typically run in the form of rings. Every city, province, and state forms a ring of police and other law-enforcement agencies. Anyone crossing from that ring must have a valid permission from the higher authorities.

Case in point Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia every major city is controlled by security rings. Every visitor, citizen or not, has to stop and show the documents before entering the city. The same thing should have been done in Iraq too.

Granted that in Iraq a similar concept was used in a limited application. Green zone in Baghdad is essentially a ring around the sensitive buildings. This "green ring" has pretty much held itself safely. Compared to the rest of Baghdad and Al-Unbar, the green ring of Baghdad has been an oasis.

We lost the initiative when we didn't make bigger and wider rings beyond the green ring. That's when insurgents and terrorists took hold of "free areas" and brought so much death and destruction.

Finally President Bush and few of the top generals have the right idea called "the surge". However it should never be a "mad surge". What we need is a careful, surgeon like precise drawing of rings around important sites. Slowly these rings will merge and peace will expand.

We should avoid chasing the insurgents in a mad rush. Let's keep and hold the rings in Baghdad. And then based on the availability of troops, form similar rings around other important areas. I am confident that ultimately the security rings will prove their value for a long time to come.