Psyops

So let's say you're running a counter-insurgency war and you kill a guy in an air strike, a guy you've been pumping up in the media for over a year. Let's say there was absolutely no informer tip that led you to the bad guy.

What should you do? Announce that an informer tip led you to the bad guy.

Announce that you've paid a reward. It messes with their heads. It gets them suspecting each other.

"Habibi, where'd you get the money for those new sandals?"

Now, on the other hand, if you actually did have an informer, you have to weigh the risk to all of your other informers across the country of announcing that an informer tip helped you wax the bad guy. All that suspicion could harm your informant network, if you have one that's better than what the Abwehr thought they had going against Britain.

You wouldn't want to risk that, because as "Gary Brecher" has pointed out, counter-insurgency war is all about informers. Without them, you lose.

The fact that we announced that an informer helped us bag Zarqawi indicates to me that we have zero informants in Iraq, or that they have never provided any actionable information.

Left grip is 17 pounds (15, 15, 17), right grip is 50 pounds (48, 50, 50).