Insurgents use media to fight Americans

[Cocoa]

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/world/10123423.htm

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - U.S. military planners and intelligence analysts believe Iraqi insurgent leaders holed up in Fallujah will defend the city by combining scrappy fighting with a media blitz designed to provoke a worldwide outcry.

The insurgents understand that they cannot beat the U.S. military, but will probably try to hold off the assaulting forces, killing as many U.S. troops as possible and provoking a backlash in the United States over American casualties, U.S. Army officials say.

"He wants to make it as painful and costly as he can," said Army Maj. Eric Larsen, of the 1st Cavalry Division's 2nd Brigade. "He's testing us. How much are we willing to pay for that real estate?"

At the same time, the insurgents will seek to exploit public horror in the Muslim world as well as among U.S. allies over civilian deaths, with the goal of forcing the U.S. military and Iraqi governments to negotiate, Army officials said.

more...

[acmavm]

1. Whatever. The attack on Falluja is going to have some ugly ramifications

for this country. Other nations are already becoming angry about the civilian death toll. This will just add gasoline to the fire.

[lovedems]

2. And if Bush follows his pattern, he will be on vacation in Crawford

clearing brush while people are dying. Either doing that or reading a child's book.

[Daisey Mae]

3. BUSH can't WIN

HE may win the battle but the war has already been lost......Bush is just getting his kicks out of KILLING brown people.....He is a psycopath...... and the country is doomed to loose.....

[clydefrand]

4. Who is the HE in this paragraph?

"He wants to make it as painful and costly as he can," said Army Maj. Eric Larsen, of the 1st Cavalry Division's 2nd Brigade. "He's testing us. How much are we willing to pay for that real estate?"

[Rose Siding]

8. Satan

They said the enemy is Satan

[Andrushka]

13. I thought

it was al-Zarqawi who will personally kick out the invaders with his leg(s) (how many has he got this week?)

[truthseeker1]

5. Hey all is fair in love and war

The US uses the media to spread its propaganda (and to omit what's really happening), why shouldn't the Iraqis also use the media as an instrument of war?

[Cocoa]

6. that's the irony

my email to this reporter:

Dear Jim,

Your story on the insurgents using the media was interesting, if a bit obvious. Of course, all sides in a war wage a media war.

More interesting might be a story about the U.S. propaganda regarding the Fallujah assault. There seems to be a lot of it, and it's especially interesting to us since our taxes pay for it.

A place to start investigating might be the people that you spoke with for your story today. Are they part of an information warfare operation, directed against Americans, at the same time funded by those same Americans?

[truthseeker1]

10. Good work!

way to go :bounce:

[Straight Shooter]

14. Go Cocoa!

:thumbsup:

[maddogesq]

9. DOGGIE NEWSFLASH: Insurgents take lesson from Karl Rove. NT

.

[Swamp Rat]

12. All is fair in love and war ... and "real estate"

[Rose Siding]

7. First Prize: manipulatory propaganda division

And extra best of class points for appearing on the same day a another report saying we have no intelligence capapbilities within the insurgent groups. (so how would Army officials know ANYTHING about what "insurgents will seek")

[rockydem]

11. interesting fault line within the insurgency

"Beyond these broad goals, the aims of Iraqi and foreign fighters differ, American officials believe. U.S. planners have long seen signs of a rift between the two sides.

Iraqi fighters inside the city seek autonomy from the U.S.-allied Iraqi government. They don't want to pursue the battle if the cost means the destruction of their homes and city.

But Muslim mujahedeen, including foreign fighters who have flocked to Fallujah, are thought to be willing to fight and die for the ultimate goal of an Islamic state. For them, Fallujah's destruction is a worthy sacrifice, the officials say."