Iraqi guards are worth the cost

Re “U.S. seeking jobs for surplus hired guns,” March 21

An Iraq war veteran myself, I read your March 21 article on U.S. commanders laying off Sunni Arabs hired to guard their neighborhoods as part of counterinsurgency efforts. While paying these men cannot go on forever, it seems shortsighted to lay them off before the local economy can produce alternative employment. Saving money is not a good reason to terminate this program, given that these men may return to insurgency and, at their wage of $10 a day, the value of a U.S. service member’s life insurance can buy thousands of days of the Iraqis’ peaceful labor.

While the article details many other programs to transition to a functioning peacetime economy, commanders and local officials must manage this process carefully to avoid a relapse into violence.

Adam Shilling

Baton Rouge, La.