![](\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/ffximage\/2005\/10\/29\/30iraq_wideweb__470x308,0.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSWJ BLOG: THE THIRD GENERATION GANGS OF IRAQ<\/b><\/p>\n
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The SWJ Blog<\/a><\/strong> is developing very nicely in terms of steadily drawing high quality contributors. The latest examples are Dr. Robert J. Bunker<\/strong> ( Non-State Threats and Future Wars<\/a><\/em><\/strong>) and John P. Sullivan<\/strong> ( Center for Advanced Studies on Terrorism<\/a>). They have a post up entitled:<\/p>\n “Iraq & the Americas: 3 GEN Gangs Lessons and Prospects<\/a>“<\/p>\n “Gangs and Iraqi insurgents, militias, and other non-state groups share common origins based on tribalism, and therefore, it is expected that they will exhibit similar structures and behaviors. It is our belief that further insight into Iraq\u2019s present situation and future prospects may be derived from a perspective utilizing 3rd generation gang (3 GEN Gangs) studies which present lessons learned from the emergence and spread of gangs within the United States, and other parts of the world, over roughly the last four decades. (1) Basically, from a 3 GEN Gangs perspective, three generations of gangs have been found to exist: turf based, drug based, and mercenary based. The first generation gangs, comprising the vast majority, focus on protecting their turf. These gangs, the least developed of the three generational forms, provide both protection and identity to their members and little more. While some drug dealing is evident, it tends with these gangs to be a sideline activity. <\/span><\/strong> This brings to mind the analysis of RAND<\/strong> <\/a>scholar, David Ronfeldt<\/strong> in his excellent working paper ” In Search of How Societies Work: Tribes – The First And Forever Form <\/a>“. SWJ BLOG: THE THIRD GENERATION GANGS OF IRAQ The SWJ Blog is developing very nicely in terms of steadily drawing high quality contributors. The latest examples are Dr. Robert J. Bunker ( Non-State Threats and Future Wars) and John P. Sullivan ( Center for Advanced Studies on Terrorism). They have a post up entitled: “Iraq […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[310,309,307,311,199,45,308,39,306,161,13,312,18,217],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-3-gen-gangs","category-criminals","category-david-ronfeldt","category-gangs","category-insurgency","category-iraq","category-john-p-sullivan","category-military","category-robert-j-bunker","category-swj-blog","category-theory","category-tribes","category-war","category-warriors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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….From a 3 GEN Gangs perspective, Iraq has been essentially overrun by 3rd generation gangs and their criminal-soldier equivalents. This is reminiscent of the nightmare scenario for the US already starting to develop in Central and South America (and, to a lesser extent, within the US) with the emergence, growth, and expansion of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and other Maras. In many ways, the \u2018Gangs of Iraq\u2019 are a prelude to the \u2018Gangs of the Americas\u2019 that we will be increasingly facing in the Western Hemisphere.”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
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