NYT: Marine Officers See Risk in Cuts in Falluja Force

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/18/international/middleeast/18troops.html?ei=5094&en=aa37de207d4fc376&hp=&ex=1100754000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position=

Senior Marine intelligence officers in Iraq are warning that if American troop levels in the Falluja area are significantly reduced during reconstruction there, as has been planned, insurgents in the region will rebound from their defeat. The rebels could thwart the retraining of Iraqi security forces, intimidate the local population and derail elections set for January, the officers say.

They have further advised that despite taking heavy casualties in the weeklong battle, the insurgents will continue to grow in number, wage guerrilla attacks and try to foment unrest among Falluja's returning residents, emphasizing that expectations for improved conditions have not been met.

The pessimistic counsel is contained in a seven-page classified report prepared by intelligence officers in the First Marine Expeditionary Force, or I MEF, last weekend as the offensive in Falluja was winding down. The assessment was distributed to senior Marine and Army officers in Iraq, where one officer called it "brutally honest."

Marine commanders marshaled about 12,000 marines and soldiers, and roughly 2,500 Iraqi forces for the Falluja campaign, but they always expected to send thousands of American troops back to other locations in Iraq eventually, after the major fighting in Falluja. This intelligence assessment suggests that such a move would be dangerous.

[hatrack]

1. Obviously these Marines never got the memo

You see, from now on their are to be personally loyal to President Bush, not to the "facts on the ground" or the "after-action report".

Personal loyalty, that's what counts, not facts! Just ask the CIA.

[TacticalPeek]

2. By the numbers.

"At current projected force levels, the enemy will be able to maintain a sufficient level of intimidation of the Al Anbar and Babil Province populations and infiltrate or otherwise further degrade the capabilities" of the Iraqi security forces in western and south-central Iraq, where the Marines operate, the report says.

The insurgency has shown "outstanding resilience" and the militants' willingness to fight is bolstered by four main factors, the report says. One, the tribal and insurgent leaders understand the limitations of the United Nations, American elections and internal Iraqi government politics, and try to exploit them. Two, they are skilled at turning battlefield defeats into symbolic victories, just as Saddam Hussein did after the 1991 Persian Gulf war. Insurgents will make the battle of Falluja into an excellent recruiting tool, the report says.

Three, the insurgents are dedicated propagandists who use the Internet and other means to feed exaggerated and contrived reporting from the battlefield to jihadists in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East. Al Jazeera and Arab media then pick it up, the report says.

Finally, the report says, the insurgents believe they are more willing to suffer casualties than the American military and public, and "will continue to find refuge among sympathetic tribes and former regime members."

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Learn and live.

[bemildred]

3. Translation:

We are losing the war.

Our tactical superiority has not translated into progress towards
strategic success.

The insurgents lie just as well as we do, and we cannot shut them up.

The insurgents are supported by their fellow Iraqis and are highly
motivated to defend their homeland.

[Must_B_Free]

4. And how many of these "Iraqi Forces" are really insurgents?

[Moderator]

5. Duplicate topic--Please continue discussion here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1000454