A Promise To Fight On

A leader in Iraqi militia group tells of plans for extended guerrilla war

By Mohamad Bazzi
MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT

July 10, 2003


Fallujah, Iraq - <snip>
"We have many more people and we're a lot better organized than the Americans realize," said Khaled, 29, who gave an hour-long interview yesterday on the condition that only his first name be published. "We have been preparing for this kind of guerrilla war for a long time, and we're much more patient than the Americans. We have nowhere else to go."

Khaled described the workings of a loosely organized network of former Baath Party members, Iraqi soldiers, intelligence officers and other die-hard Hussein supporters who have been responsible for an unknown number of the attacks that have killed 29 U.S. soldiers and injured dozens since May 1.

He said the network operates in cells of five or six members that answer to a secret leadership structure. It goes by various names - the Fedayeen, the Iraq Liberation Army, Muhammad's Army - and Khaled said only a handful of people know its full reach. He said its members draw inspiration from Hussein and from the belief that the ousted Iraqi leader is alive and will regain power once U.S. troops are forced to leave.....

<snip>
It is an account that contradicts statements by several U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who argue that the Iraqi insurgency is a disorganized movement of former Baathists and thousands of criminals who were released from prison by Hussein last year.
<snip>
"We know each other and we have ways of communicating with one another," said Khaled, a tall, muscular man with a trim mustache and short-cropped hair. "The Americans made a big mistake by thinking that we all disappeared after the war.".....

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/iraq/ny-wofeda103365886jul10,0,832475.story?coll=ny-top-span-headlines

And you don't know what's happening, do you Mr. Rumsfeld?

But that's the thing. No one in the White House understands, or ever took the time to understand, the Middle Eastern mindset. They have been conquered continuously throughout history. And they have thrown out their conquerors. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict should have said something to somebody. It will just go on and on and on.

What I do not understand is why the Administration keeps telling everyone that we have to stay in Iraq until we "teach" them how to rebuild their country. That is soooooo stupidly arrogant. The Iraqis have a history that goes back for thousands of years. They were the most modern country in the Middle East. And if anyone thinks that they are going to adopt a government bases on truly democratic ideals (unlike what we have now), they're nuttier than a fruitcake. Religion will always set the tone in Iraq. Sunni, Shi'ite, whatever. Look at the crazed people we have here now. They're spouting "Christian" crap out of their asses as fast as they can. And really, nothing they do is any way related to anything that "Christ" ever preached.

Fooling themselves is what these people do best.

they'd heard a retired LTC finally admit on one of the talk shows that no country's sustained insurgency had ever been defeated by occupying forces.

Doesn't look good for our side, does it? For the first time I'm beginning to wonder if there's a chance that we won't "win" in Iraq. Wouldn't it be something if we end up leaving, much as we left Vietnam?

Eloriel

It's just starting, folks.