Iraq Insurgency Showing Signs of Momentum

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20040626/ts_latimes/iraqinsurgencyshowingsignsofmomentum&cid=2026&ncid=1480

BAGHDAD — As this week's coordinated violence demonstrates, Iraq (news - web sites)'s insurgent movement is increasingly potent, riding a wave of anti-U.S. nationalism and religious extremism. Just days before an Iraqi government takes control of the country, experts and some commanders fear it may be too late to turn back the militant tide.


The much-anticipated wave of strikes preceding Wednesday's scheduled hand-over could intensify under the new interim government as Sunni Muslim insurgents seek to undermine it, U.S. and Iraqi officials say.


"I think we're going to continue to see sensational attacks," said Army Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus, the 101st Airborne Division commander who will oversee the reshaping of Iraq's fledgling security forces.


Long gone are the days when the insurgents were dismissed as a finite force ticketed for high-tech annihilation by superior U.S. firepower. snip

"We're talking about people who are the equivalent of the Minutemen," said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert who served as an advisor for the U.S.-led occupation here. "They pick up their weapons and join the fight and then go back to their homes and farms. It makes it so fluid. And the media functions as the town crier, like the calls from the minaret."

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[teryang]

1. This is a very informative article which

...reveals much about the insurgency while at the same time harboring some of the mistaken assumptions about the war.

The fundamental mistake was invading the country. We had already alienated the population, by the prior war, by the sanctions, and by our numerous senseless, disproportionate, and completely unsuccessful bombings in residential areas. The wholesale slaughter of retreating troops during the cease fire in the previous conflict and other war crimes no doubt created thousands of committed enemies with long memories. Our invasion created thousands more. Our occupation creates more every day.

The idea that a foreign invader could plop itself down in the heart of Islamic culture and impose its will was incredibly stupid to begin with. What is happening now (something worse that Israel/Palestine) is all we will ever achieve. Nevertheless, neocon Pentagon officials are not troubled by the "sustainable" casualty rate (ours, the number of Iraqis slaughtered is a matter of calculated indifference). I note that the General doesn't use the obsolete bullet point that insurgent attacks are "not tactically significant." That phrase went into the dustbin of government propaganda, several months ago.

This resistance movement was planned from day one. It wasn't spontaneous although it has spontaneous regeneration and surge capability. It is now a viable culture of violence with a cause and an oral tradition. It doesn't need Al Jezeera or television, although public recognition no doubt improves morale. Shite participation (which is more spontaneous and less well trained) in the resistance is an attempt to maintain political legitimacy and some sort of future in post occupation Iraq.

Huge amounts of arms were cached all over the country ahead of time, they weren't just looted from armories. The training in the use of high explosives with unconventional methods, IEDs, is highly learned behavior which had to be trained to hundreds if not thousands of individuals before the war commenced. When I saw films of Udays fedayeen forces, I knew this was going to happen. When the republican guard laid down without a real fight, Colonel Hackworth and General Clark both commented (amidst the irrational euphoria) that something was amiss and that this was an operational indicator of a future guerilla conflict. Then the media pundits tried to give a hundred reasons why it wasn't a guerilla conflict. Wrong on all counts.

The notion that there is a viable techinque or tactic to overcome what we have done to Iraq is simply ignorance. But here are just two of the true statements in the article:

<"The nature of this culture is you can't win a war of attrition with them," said Col. Robert B. Abrams of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division in Baghdad, "because it's a circle of violence — there will always be someone in the family who will pick up arms. Unless you want to kill too many people. Which of course we never want to do."

The insurgents have time on their side: U.S. forces are already under pressure to leave. And the Sunni fighters are armed with another major advantage: They have no need to win, only to sow instability.">

[anarchy1999]

2. Help me out here, and the "Minutemen" were a bad thing, right?

WTF drugs are these people on that have them saying these outrageous things and what all drugs are all the people on when they hear this outright bs and buy into it?

Please someone help me out here. I've been up all night. The "Minutemen", definition please, I'm too tired to search.

[mbperrin]

3. Yes, very bad (for the health of soldiers from far away)

http://www.ushistory.org/brandywine/special/art01.htm

Pretty good generic link. Oh, and I do believe that this should debunk that whole Islamic culture thing. Just about anybody will fight fiercely to defend their own homes.

[treepig]

4. or should we call it "joementum"

in honor of one of the war's big enablers/cheerleaders

[NJmaverick]

5. THis article has been FREEPED

Look at the rating numbers!