Now this is something else. Iraq is trying to fire up an offense industry against Al Qaeda and ISIS, and are actually creating a dead or alive scheme. I believe this is the first dead or alive bounty program, sponsored by Iraq or any state recently, in modern times. I could be wrong, but if true, this is significant.
The other thing to note is the increased bounty for ‘living’ foreign militants. Which is a good move in order to get intelligence from living militants. You want to create the incentive to bring them in alive, and attach a value to that. It is much like how the US created a bounty scheme in order for privateers to capture British prisoners, as opposed to just letting them go, during the War of 1812. The reason why, is the US needed British prisoners to exchange for US prisoners.
So where can this go wrong? Well, for one, human rights violations could happen. Imagine bounty hunters torturing folks, just to find more jihadists for increased profit. I am sure a bounty program like this also violates some UN law or treaty… Who knows. All I know is Iraq is pretty desperate and they are doing everything they can to survive.
I should also note that Al Qaeda and others have been using offense industry in their game for a long time now. They have put bounties on Iraqis and the west all over the world, and still have ‘dead or alive’ schemes going to this day.
As to how this might play out, who knows. It might fizzle, but it might really take off. I am reminded of bounty schemes/offense industries during the Rhodesian War or the early bounty schemes in America, where scalps were used as proof of death.
In Mexico, they had bounty programs where they paid money for the scalps of dead Apaches. In the case of Mexico, gangs like the Glanton Gang, would go on scalp hunting expeditions to get the reward money posted by the state of Chihuahua. This is not to say that the Iraqis will use scalps as a proof of death, but in all actuality, proof of death will be necessary in order to collect a reward. Scalping was a mechanism created to prove death because it was easier to transport a scalp, and humans only grow one scalp. In this case, I imagine folks will present the body, or maybe even the head, as proof. Who knows…
I will keep an eye on this and see if this is just a propaganda thing, or if they are actually firing up a dead or alive bounty program. Also, I have no idea if the Iraqis are offering this bounty to anyone other than Iraqi bounty hunters. If anything else pops up on this, I will make an edit. –Matt
Buffalo hunter Ralph Morrison, killed and scalped by Cheyennes in December 1868 near Fort Dodge, Kansas; Lieutenant Read in Military Uniform and John O. Austin and Horse Nearby. December 7, 1868.
Iraq offers $17,200 reward for killing jihadists
20 February 2014
Iraq’s government has offered a reward of $17,200 (£10,300) for each foreign militant killed from al-Qaeda or the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), a former affiliate.
A larger reward of $25,800 (£15,500) is being offered for the capture of militants belonging to the two groups.
The announcement was made on the website of the ministry of defence.
Al-Qaeda and ISIS have been blamed by the authorities for the surge in sectarian violence over the past year.
Iraqi government data says more than 1,000 people were killed in January.
At the end of December, ISIS and its allies seized control of parts of Fallujah and Ramadi, two cities in the predominantly Sunni western province of Anbar.
While security forces backed by pro-government tribesmen have made progress in retaking areas of Ramadi, they have not launched an offensive on Fallujah, instead asking locals to get the militants to leave.
Last week, the UN said 300,000 people had been displaced by the fighting in Anbar, the highest number since the peak of the sectarian insurgency from 2006 to 2008.
Story here.
