US looks to put more brains behind its brawn in Iraq

[dArKeR]

More barriers and checkpoints may be used to block car bombs. More Iraqis will be hired and trained to try to stop attacks before they're launched.

US military officials are considering shifting tactics to combat the organized guerrilla attacks that are on the rise in Iraq.

But a scathing internal report on the US Army's information gathering in Iraq raises questions about how successful those efforts will be: It found intelligence specialists on the ground unprepared for their jobs and with little ability to analyze what they hear.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/10/30/2003073928

[DulceDecorum]

1. More Iraqis will be hired

Posted 9/12/2003
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) — U.S. soldiers mistakenly opened fire on uniformed Iraqi policemen chasing highway bandits at night, killing eight officers and a Jordanian security guard and wounding nine other people Friday in this dangerous "Sunni Triangle" city near Baghdad, Iraqi police said.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-09-12-iraq-policemen-killed_x.htm

October 29, 2003
In the past, commenting on incidents in which Iraqi police or civilians were killed, Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of allied forces in Iraq, has said the rules governing American troops here allow them to use overwhelming force on any entity considered hostile, even if it does not represent an immediate threat and is near civilians.
<snip>
Three American soldiers from the 82nd Airborne have been killed around Falluja since mid-September, according to casualty reports from the United States military. The city is in the heart of the Sunni Triangle, an area west and north of Baghdad that is a stronghold of support for the ousted former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein.
Guerrillas in the area regularly fire mortars at a base the 82nd maintains just east of Falluja and attack American patrols with roadside bombs and grenades.
Mr. Hussein said he blamed the United States for the violence that has plagued Falluja, including the car bomb on Tuesday that killed four people and wounded four more.
"First they said they want to protect the Iraqi people, but then they destroy us," he said. "The only one who is hurting us is the Americans themselves."
Since early September, soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division have killed more than 20 civilians and Iraqi police officers in and around Falluja in incidents where the victims have put up little or no resistance, according to accounts from witnesses. American military officers have said the shootings were justified under American rules of engagement, but have provided scant details.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/29/international/middleeast/29IRAQ.html?ex=1068008400&en=294d39d1054e7ce4&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

So,
tell me more about that 401K retirement plan.