In Postwar Iraq, the Battle Widens

Recent Attacks on U.S. Forces Raise Concerns of a Guerrilla Conflict

Monday, July 7, 2003; Page A01

Recent Iraqi attacks on U.S. troops have demonstrated a new tactical sophistication and coordination that raise the specter of the U.S. occupation force becoming enmeshed in a full-blown guerrilla war, military experts said yesterday. The new approaches employed in the Iraqi attacks last week are provoking concern among some that what once was seen as a mopping-up operation against the dying remnants of a deposed government is instead becoming a widening battle against a growing and organized force that could keep tens of thousands of U.S. troops busy for months.

Pentagon officials continue to insist that the U.S. military is not caught in an anti-guerrilla campaign in Iraq, that the fighting still is limited mainly to the Sunni heartland northwest of Baghdad and that progress is being made elsewhere in the country. "There's been an awful lot of work done," Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told "Fox News Sunday" in an interview taped last week. "A lot of the country is relatively stable."

But a growing number of military specialists, and some lawmakers, are voicing concern about trends in Iraq. There is even some quiet worry at the Pentagon, where some officers contend privately that the size of the U.S. deployment in Iraq -- now about 150,000 troops -- is inadequate for force protection, much less for peacekeeping. The Army staff is reexamining force requirements and looking again at the numbers generated in the months before the war, said a senior officer who asked not to be named.

"If you talk to the guys in Iraq, they will tell you that it's urban combat over there," the officer said. "They all are saying, 'What we have is not enough to keep the peace.' "

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A17958-2003Jul6¬Found=true

:eyes:

The guerrilla war in Ieaq is going to require alot more troops, i dont know where we will get them from. It also makes invading Iran, pretty doubtful in my opinion.

Of course, an invasion of Iran may be more probable as a "subject change" if the neo-cons continue to sink in the quagmire.

to come in and clean up the mess Georgie made.

funny, but they don't wanna.

...and Bush told our long term allies to fuck off when they didn't want to join Bush's illegal war...

and he can't go to them now because he knows he's guilty of violating the nuremberg principles, and is therefore, technically at least, since Bush, like Kissinger, will weasel out of responsibility for the very avoidable deaths of thousands of civilians and soldiers,

anyway, by the terms of the Nuremberg Principles, which our nation helped to write, Bush, Cheney, Rummy, and the whole HeeHaw gang could be charged with crimes against humanity for a war of aggression.

oops, wait, I mean, the war to liberate Iraqi oil and elect repukes for the midterms.

He said they needed more troops and rummy let him go..somewhere?

so, of course, Rummy "encouraged" him to get out.

the chickenhawks make me sick.

they are so arrogant, they thought they knew more than the military or the CIA.

than the military and CIA. So f*cking arrogant.

From the article:

About 28 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq in June, more than twice the death toll for May. Many of those casualties occurred in vehicle accidents, but soldiers in Iraq say that even those crashes are attributable in part to the fighting, because Humvee drivers often travel at unsafe speeds to lessen the chance of being ambushed.

he wouldn't lie, would he?

what will we tell the children?

..oh, forgot, it doesn't matter...different hummers.

- Iraq was not to become another vietnam like quagmire

- we Really(?) went there to liberate the people, and rebuild their country into a democracy

If it turns into a veitnam like occupation the only way to save face and lose face at the same time is to leave.

- thus, leaving Iraq into a large mess, for Saddam and the 60% Shitie population to fight over ala afghanistan.

- leaving will save American lives, but 1) destroy the self-created reality that the USA wants to bring democracy to the world with it's military, 2) Destroy any credability that the GW and neo-cons really stick to their guns(literaly and as a joke).

They really created a multiple box of catch-22's with their entire invade first ask questions later empire building offense.

Thanks Rummy and the GW Dummy?

William Crystal can fuck huimself as well, with his smug frat boy grin. Sure, you know more of the inner plan than all of us, but your really too smart for your own good. Your going to screw yourself over more than any liberal could do it for you.

Sorry for the rant.

they are good at tearing things down. that's easy for anyone, in fact.

the hard part is creating something good.

the junta in power now has spent its entire political life tearing down the idea of commonwealth in America...the idea that we are a nation who takes care of each other, when needed, and who values the idea of community and common good.

they're doing the legislative version of the Iraq invasion right here, with the tax cuts for which will only "help" the top one percent, while the middle class finds its tax cut absorbed in state taxes and the poor get trampled because some fat corporate fuck needs another few million in case his golden parachute isn't big enough.

edited to clarify-
the Cato Institute, which Gloria posted in GD, talks about these issues re: Iraq and they were talking about them before the invasion.

the Cato Institute is a conservative thinktank, btw.

I guess they're treasonous traitors, according to Coulter's definition, because they dare to question the thief in chief.

I mean did they really believe the Iraqis would greet our troops w/ flowers and thank them for saving them from evil SH? These people are on crack, I swear.

One of my repug friends emailed me at the beginning of this fiasco, and said we are not going to be "occupying" Iraq. Haven't heard a WORD in 2 weeks from him. Wonder why?

What the hell was Rambo Rummy and the other thugs thinking? We are talking 23 millions Iraqis who don't have electricity, water, are terrified to even go out....Hello? Did any of these corporate crooks ever take Cultural Anthropology 101? I think not. Oh yeah, that's right...worthless course...liberal arts.

They are going to PAY for this. F*cking war criminals. I can't wait til those troops come back and tell the REAL story.

EXIT strategy? Son, you know how much oil (snort slobber slobber) there is there?

These cats are old school traditional troglodyte proto-masculine bullies of epic proportions. They don't stop and ask directions. They don't admit mistakes. They don't ask for help. They don't ask permission. You're wrong. Just shut up or you're gonna be down in gitmo with the battery clamps on your naughty bits for a few years or so.