In late 2003, I was asked to take on the task of demobilizing Iraqi militias. This would later be named the “transition and reintegration” program. Shortly after the program commenced, efforts to stabilize and rebuild Iraq veered off in directions no one wanted.The task I took on was conceptually simple but practically daunting: persuade Iraq’s armed factions to lay down their weapons and trust in a future they could not yet see while violence escalated.
The United States now faces a familiar but more challenging version of that dilemma as it considers how to disarm Hamas in a devastated Gaza.The post Disarming Hamas: Lessons from U.S. Efforts to Demobilize Militias in Iraq appeared first on War on the Rocks.