Resistance Moves Freely in Sunni Triangle US Tactical Shift In Iraq Leaves

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

Power Vacuum

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14024-2003Nov7.html

THULUIYA, Iraq, Nov. 7 -- American troops patrol less frequently, townspeople openly threaten Iraqi security personnel who cooperate with U.S. forces, and the night belongs to the guerrillas.

This is the reality in this little town 60 miles north of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi officials say, and it reflects a shifting balance of power in U.S.-occupied central Iraq. Resistance forces move with impunity in Thuluiya and throughout the so-called Sunni Triangle, despite repeated raids on suspected hide-outs and arms caches.

Since June, when attacks on U.S. forces began in earnest, the average number of ambushes has more than doubled, soaring from about 12 a day to 37 in late October before falling to 29 last week, according to Col. William Darley, an Army spokesman.

Today in Tikrit, 45 miles west of here, for the second time in a week, guerrillas shot down a U.S. helicopter. Despite the immediate appearance of airborne reinforcements, the perpetrators escaped.

There is a growing power vacuum in central Iraq, where support for Saddam Hussein was strongest and where much of the population depended on jobs in his government and vast security apparatus and on the favored political status he accorded to the country's Sunni Muslims. The danger of permitting this wide-open state to persist, Iraqi officials say, is that it will spread and increase the confidence of enemies of the occupation.
<snip>

Just the way you planned it, eh, Rummy? Let them get over-confident, right?

[Swede]

1. This must mean victory is near.

What a horrid mess they stuck a bunch of young kids in.

[markses]

2. Oh, man, it will be bad

This article basically implies that large swaths of the Iraqi country-side - and even large urban areas like Fallujah - have been all but conceded by the American forces, except for minor harassment operations. Read the article and tell me it says otherwise.

Jeebus. I knew it was bad, but this is really bad.

[IndianaGreen]

3. Evening news is reporting the US is blasting homes of suspected resistance

Borrowing a page from the IDF no doubt, this is what ABC News is reporting tonight:

In retaliation, American troops backed by Bradley fighting vehicles swept through Iraqi neighborhoods before dawn Saturday, blasting houses suspected of being insurgent hideouts with machine guns and heavy weapons fire.

"This is to remind the town that we have teeth and claws and we will use them," said Lt. Col. Steven Russell, commander of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20031107_2030.html

[ninkasi]

4. IG, I'm trying to establish in my mind

how "teeth and claws" fits in with this illegal administration's proclaimed theory that we are spreading democracy in Iraq, and only went to save the people from the evil Saddam.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this picture seem a tad out of focus? The impression I get, is we're pummeling the Iraqis into accepting our own version of how they should live. If we truly wanted only good things for Iraq, shouldn't we be listening to what they have to say?

You're right, of course...it's worked so well for Israel all these years, let's just follow their script. Democracy for all is right around the corner, if we have to kill every Iraqi there to accomplish it.

[Barrett808]

5. Of more than 400 detainees netted in the raid...two remain in custody

"Of more than 400 detainees netted in the raid, called Operation Peninsula Strike, two remain in custody, according to Iraqi police."

Pathetic.

[gone2thechase]

6. My guess on it

Let the "resistance" gather for a while and feel comfortable and then drop a MOAB on them. Crude but effective.

[bpilgrim]

8. and if that don't work we can always nuke'em, eh?

worked for japan, right :crazy:

peace

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

9. That's what the freeps want. Turn the middle east into a giant glass bowl

It's that kind of attitude that gives these cretins the idea that America is pro violence no matter what the cost in human life.

[Barrett808]

7. And this! Unbelievable!

Since a wave of car bombings last month in Baghdad, no U.S. official has visited the police station, they said. "The Americans are afraid," the officer said.