How Collecting Trash Stops Terrorism

Do people recall Giuliani's Broken Window Theory when he was mayor of New York?

The Atlantic Monthly described it as

"Consider a building with a few broken windows . If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it's unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside.
Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there or breaking into cars."

Now of course crime does not reduce itself to zero because of picking up trash and fixing windows but it is a important part of the mix.

I was reading Soldiering On -Journeys through Rome, Iraq, and Home and his post Full-Spectrum Targeting, the Key to COIN

COIN is dealing with Targeting in a counterinsurgency . In his case in Iraq. He talks about the need for both Lethal and Non Lethal components. Good Read.

I was struck by this part:

Non-lethal targeting was often ignored prior to the Surge and sadly still is in certain areas. However, the non-lethal has enabled the peace to be secured. To look at our IED problem-set: unemployment, trash, and poverty can be contributing factors in creating an environment where our AQIZ IED cell has fertile ground to recruit. However, through drops of humanitarian aid in problem neighborhoods and trash collection programs, we begin to attack the root causes. The local population ceases to view coalition forces (CF) as a threat or an occupier and provides information to CF that further enables lethal targeting. In addition, the population ceases to provide either active or passive support to the insurgency or terrorist group. The terrorist and/or insurgent require a passive population in which to hide and conduct their operations. If the population begins to oppose them (as was the case in the Sunni Awakening), they lose the ability to survive and operate. Non-lethal targeting helps cement that awakening and prevent those areas from sliding back into support for insurgent/terrorist
groups.

Interesting