Iraq Insurgency Far Larger Than Thought

[ET Awful]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The Iraq insurgency is far larger than the 5,000 guerrillas previously thought to be at its core, U.S. military officials say, and it's being led by well-armed Iraqi Sunnis angry at being pushed from power alongside Saddam Hussein.

Although U.S. military analysts disagree over the exact size, dozens of regional cells, often led by tribal sheiks and inspired by Sunni Muslim imams, can call upon part-time fighters to boost forces to as high as 20,000 - an estimate reflected in the insurgency's continued strength after U.S. forces killed as many as 4,000 in April alone.

And some insurgents are highly specialized - one Baghdad cell, for instance, has two leaders, one assassin, and two groups of bomb-makers. . . . <snip>

The officer said Iraq's insurgents have a big advantage over guerrillas elsewhere: plenty of arms, money, and training. Iraq's lack of a national identity card system - and guerrillas' refusal to plan attacks by easily intercepted telephone calls - makes them difficult to track.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20040708/D83MQB3G0.html

[ET Awful]

1. I just have to ask . . .

what exactly do they mean by "guerrillas" refusal to plan attacks by easily intercepted telephone calls?" Are they saying they called up and asked nicely "Hey Mr. Geurilla, can you please use a telephone to plan your attacks from now on?" What exactly is meant by "refusal." That strikes me as just an extremely STUPID statement .

[fertilizeonarbusto]

3. Thank you!

"Please drop us an email on when you plan to attack so we can blow you to bits" Typical Rethug "thinking", though. "Just do what we want you to do so we can win" :silly:

[Bonhomme Richard]

2. Gee, Good thing we turned it over when we did.

Now we can plan to get the hell out of there. It's the Iraqi's problem now. NOT!

[jayfish]

4. "U.S. forces killed as many as 4,000 in April alone."

When will the Iraqi mass graves, created by the US, be found? At least Saddam wasn't allowed to use airplanes when he quelled his uprisings. Have we become what we despise?

Jay

[HysteryDiagnosis]

7. Mass Graves?

When will the Iraqi mass graves, created by the US, be found? At least Saddam wasn't allowed to use airplanes when he quelled his uprisings. Have we become what we despise?<<

Uhhhhh..... hope not.



http://www.acftv.com/news/article.asp?news_id=112
>>At Shebargan, they were herded into two of several truck containers. Then, Iqbal said, the doors were sealed. He and the others lost consciousness, and when he came to he was 'lying on top of dead bodies, breathing the stench of their blood and urine'.

'We lived because someone made holes with a machine gun, though they were shooting low, and still more died from the bullets. When we got out, about 20 in each container were still alive.'<<

[Zynx]

8. We vastly inflate how many we kill.

If we had killed that many, the insurgency would have been broken. Look at Vietnam where we would always overstate enemy casualties by three, five, or even ten-fold.

[jukes]

11. Zynx

in contrast, though we UNDERestimate how many we kill, but 90% of them are innocent & helpless.

[markses]

14. I estimated it at 83.333333%

See my post 10. ;-)

[markses]

10. Divide by at least 10

And add half the original under "Civilian Non-Combatant" category, and you're probably closer to accurate than anything the Pentagon puts out. keeping up morale, you see...

[Barrett808]

17. That number is almost certainly bogus

And includes a large percentage of civilians.

Dahr Jamail has photographed the mass graves in Fallujah:





http://blog.newstandardnews.net/iraqdispatches/archives/000343.html

[Barrett808]

5. About this time last year, the CIA estimate was as high as 50,000

While the Pentagon, of course, lowballed its estimate at around 5,000.

[nolabels]

6. "strength after U.S. forces killed as many as 4,000 in April alone"

WAIT A MINUTE, I thought they said don't count the combatants

[Wright Patman]

9. National ID card?

How can we have Old Man Bush's New World Order if there are countries which don't even have ID cards?

That's right. We can't. But there will be thousands of Americans sacrificed to set this situation aright and get all those camel jockeys ID'ed, dead or alive.

[Demeter]

12. Surprise, Surprise

This is news to those who live in an alternate reality, but anyone who has been paying attention would realize that when the invasion started, the Iraqi leaders dispersed the army and sent it home. Trained and armed men, deprived of their rank and power and income and country in an old-boy network Middle Eastern Style--the like of which the South can only dream; what else were they going to do but fight? Did we give them any options of greater value? I don't think so. Just become targets for mercenaries, or wage slaves to Halliburton and Uncle Sam. Whoopee.

To expect the Iraqi army to act like DNC members is foolish.

[bemildred]

13. Pentagon INTEL operations far dumber than thought ... nt

[mbperrin]

15. Than WHO thought?

I figure if anybody but hopeless agents of the CIA, DIA, and other spook outfits still doesn't hate us, they need to wake up!

[dArKeR]

16. FACTS: Iraqi have no body armor, no communication equipment, no

satellites, no tanks, no military vehicles, no jets, no bombers, no helmets with live webcam mounted and fed to the most technologically advanced command center in the history of the Earth, no navy with cruise missiles, little food, little water, little shelter comfort, no Subway Sandwiches, no Burger King...

The GOP Congressional Leadership, Bush/Cheney, the Cabinet should be sent to real prison, not golf camp prison!

The entire American Media should be sent to Egypt and tortured to find out who actually in the American government has committed treason!

[struggle4progress]

18. kick for "if I close my eyes they aren't really there"

:kick:

[Rex]

19. This is a defense contractors wet dream.

To bad we Americans let Big Biz and the MIC push the buttons. So much for true Democracy.

[Disturbed]

20. Nobody loves war?

It seems to me that many soldiers, especially Marines, love it and the Military Industrial Complex drool about war. All this talk about how great our troops are is such propaganda. In an Occupation the Occupiers eventually lose, no matter how great the troops & the technology is. The will of the Occupied can overcome the power of the Occupation.